Method and system for synthetic aperture sonar

ABSTRACT

A method and system for synthetic aperture sonar provide improved position estimates of a receive array as in moves through a body of water.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not Applicable.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to synthetic aperture sonar and, moreparticularly, to a method and system for synthetic aperture sonar thatprovide improved spatial position of a moving sonar array used in asynthetic aperture sonar.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Active sonar transmits a signal into the water, and receives echoes fromtargets in the water. The targets can include, but are not limited to,submarines, torpedoes, tethered mines, bottom mines, cables, and bottomfeatures such as hills, trenches, and the bottom surface.

Active sonar systems have a variety of configurations. Bistatic activesonar systems have an acoustic transmitter separate from an acousticreceiver. Monostatic active sonar systems have an acoustic transmitterco-located with an acoustic receiver.

The acoustic receiver portion of an active sonar system can have anarray of receive elements arranged in a receive array formed as a lineor a curve. The receive elements may be regularly or irregularly spacedin the receive array. With this arrangement, signals provided by thereceive elements can be added to provide a receive beam having abeamwidth inversely proportional to a length of the receive array.Relative time delays or relative phase shifts can be introduced to thesignals provided by the receive elements to steer the receive beamsabout the receive array.

Where the receive array is a horizontal receive array, an azimuth widthof a receive beam is inversely proportional to the length of the arrayin wavelengths. Therefore, high spatial resolution can be achievedeither by lengthening the receive array or by increasing the frequencyof operation. However, physical array length is often limited by a sizeof a platform to which the receive array is attached. Furthermore, highacoustic frequencies attenuate rapidly in the water, preventing acousticpropagation to long ranges. As a result, conventional active sonarsystems are limited in performance by receive array length constraintsand by acoustic frequency constraints.

Synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) has characteristics similar to syntheticaperture radar (SAR). SAS improves the spatial resolution of an activesonar array by combining data coherently between pings (acoustic pulses)to synthesize a longer effective array. For SAS processing, Nyquistsampling constraints require that the receive array advance (move alongits axis) by no more than half the physical length of the receive arraybetween successive pings. It is known that more rapid movement of thereceive array results in formation of grating lobes. A variety of SASalgorithms are also known.

SAS requires an exceptionally good estimate of a spatial track (i.e.,position or motion estimate) of the receive array with time, in order tobe able to accurately add signals from the receive array coherently overthe entire synthetic aperture. It will be understood that a spatialtrack is associated with six degrees of freedom of motion of the receivearray: three displacements and three rotations. Several methods areknown for estimation of the track or portions of the track of thereceive array in SAS processing.

For example, a high-quality inertial measurement unit (IMU) can be usedalong with a Doppler velocity sonar and other ancillary equipment toprovide track estimates. However, the IMU and the other ancillaryequipment are costly, and require space and power that are at a premiumfor undersea receive arrays.

Furthermore, correlation (or differential phase) between receive signalsprovided by the individual receive elements of the receive array can beused to estimate differential motion between consecutive pings. Thistechnique typically looks over a narrow azimuth and range sector, toreduce the dimensionality of the required motion estimate. Thistechnique does not obtain precise track estimates for motion in all sixdegrees of freedom.

Still further, an auto-focus technique can further adjust the trackestimate based on an ability of the adjustment to improve the quality ofa resulting SAS image. The auto-focus method can compensate for anaccumulation of errors in differential motion over the duration (i.e.,time and length) of the synthetic aperture.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method and system for syntheticaperture sonar having an improved ability to provide position andorientation estimates of a moving sonar array as it moved through thewater.

In accordance with the present invention, a method of synthetic aperturebeamforming with a moving sonar array includes transmitting a pluralityof transmit signals to impinge upon a reference surface, wherein ones ofthe plurality of transmit signals are transmitted at a different spatialpositions of the moving sonar array. The method also includes receivinga plurality of return echoes from the reference surface with the movingsonar array, each of the plurality of return echoes associated with arespective one of the plurality of transmit signals, and beamformingselected ones of the plurality of return echoes to provide a pluralityof beamformed signals. The method still further includes generating aplurality of coarse altitudes of the moving sonar array associated withselected ones of the plurality of beamformed signals, and generating aplurality of fine altitude differences and a plurality of finehorizontal displacements of the moving sonar array from correlationsassociated with selected ones of the plurality of beamformed signals.

In alternate arrangements, the method can also include one or more of:improving an accuracy of the plurality of fine altitude differences andthe plurality of fine horizontal displacements to provide a respectiveplurality of high-precision altitude differences and a respectiveplurality of high-precision horizontal displacements; reducing a swaycomponent of the plurality of high-precision altitude differences andthe plurality of high-precision horizontal displacements to provide arespective plurality of sway-reduced altitude differences and arespective plurality of sway-reduced horizontal displacements;estimating spatially-continuous positions and spatially-continuousorientations of the moving sonar array in a first coordinate system inaccordance with at least one of: the plurality of fine altitudedifferences and fine horizontal displacements, the plurality ofhigh-precision altitude differences and high-precision horizontaldisplacements, and the plurality of sway-reduced altitude differencesand the plurality of sway-reduced horizontal displacements; andresolving a heave error due to pitch in the estimatedspatially-continuous positions and spatially-continuous orientations ofthe sonar array.

With these particular arrangements, the method provides improvedknowledge of the position and orientation of the receive array as itmoves through the water.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a system forsynthetic aperture beamforming with a moving sonar array comprises abeamforming module to transmit a plurality of transmit signals toimpinge upon a reference surface, to receive a plurality of returnechoes from the reference surface with the moving sonar array, and tobeamform selected ones of the plurality of return echoes to provide aplurality of beamformed signals. The system also includes a coarsealtitude module to generate a plurality of coarse altitudes of themoving sonar array, and a fine altitude difference/horizontaldisplacement module to generate a plurality of fine altitudes and aplurality of fine horizontal displacements of the moving sonar arrayfrom correlations associated with selected ones of the plurality ofbeamformed signals.

In alternate arrangements, the system can also include one or more of: ahigh-precision altitude difference/horizontal motion module to improvean accuracy of the plurality of fine altitude differences and theplurality of fine horizontal displacements and to provide a respectiveplurality of high-precision altitude differences and a respectiveplurality of high-precision horizontal displacements; a sway reductionmodule to reduce a sway component of the plurality of high-precisionaltitude differences and the plurality of high-precision horizontaldisplacements to provide a respective plurality of sway-reduced altitudedifferences and a respective plurality of sway-reduced horizontaldisplacements; a Phase Linearization module for estimatingspatially-continuous positions and spatially-continuous orientations ofthe moving sonar array in a first coordinate system in accordance withat least one of: the plurality of fine altitude differences and finehorizontal displacements, the plurality of high-precision altitudedifferences and high-precision horizontal displacements, and theplurality of sway-reduced altitude differences and the plurality ofsway-reduced horizontal displacements; and a heave-due-to-pitchresolution module to resolve a heave error due to pitch in the estimatedspatially-continuous positions and spatially-continuous orientations ofthe sonar array.

With these particular arrangements, the system provides improvedknowledge of the position and orientation of the receive array as itmoves through the water.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a methodof synthetic aperture beamforming with a moving sonar array includesimproving an accuracy of a plurality of fine altitude differences and aplurality of fine horizontal displacements of the moving sonar array toprovide a respective plurality of high-precision altitude differencesand a respective plurality of high-precision horizontal displacements ofthe moving sonar array.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a methodof synthetic aperture beamforming with a moving sonar array includesreducing a sway component of a plurality of high-precision altitudedifferences and a plurality of high-precision horizontal displacementsof the moving sonar array to provide a respective plurality ofsway-reduced altitude differences and a respective plurality ofsway-reduced horizontal displacements of the moving sonar array.

In accordance with the yet another aspect of present invention, a methodof synthetic aperture beamforming with a moving sonar array includesestimating spatially-continuous positions and spatially-continuousorientations of the moving sonar array in a first coordinate system inaccordance with at least one of: a plurality of fine altitudedifferences and fine horizontal displacements, a plurality ofhigh-precision altitude differences and high-precision horizontaldisplacements, and a plurality of sway-reduced altitude differences andthe plurality of sway-reduced horizontal displacements.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a methodof synthetic aperture beamforming with a moving sonar array includesresolving a heave error due to pitch in estimated positions andorientations of the moving sonar array.

In accordance with the yet another aspect of present invention, a methodof synthetic aperture beamforming with a moving sonar array includesresolving a cycle ambiguity in a received waveform.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a methodof synthetic aperture beamforming with a moving sonar array includesbeamforming the moving sonar array to provide a plurality of beamformedsignals, generating initial quantized estimates of motion of the movingsonar array associated with the beamformed signals; and generatingspatially-continuous position estimates associated with the initialquantized estimates of motion of the moving sonar array.

With these particular arrangements, the methods provide improvedknowledge of the position of the receive array as it moves through thewater

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing features of the invention, as well as the invention itselfmay be more fully understood from the following detailed description ofthe drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top view pictorial of a synthetic aperture sonar (SAS)system;

FIG. 1A is a top view pictorial of receive and transmit beams formed bya receive array and a transmit array used as part of the SAS system ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 1B is a forward view pictorial of transmit beams formed by atransmit array used as part of the SAS system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 1C is another top view pictorial of receive beams formed by areceive array used as part of the SAS system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing a method of SAS motion prediction andimage formation;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing further details of the method of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing further details of the method of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4A is a pictorial showing an ambiguity matrix generated inconjunction with the method of FIG. 4;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing yet further details of the method of FIG.2;

FIGS. 5A-5E are pictorials showing ambiguity matrices and axes ofambiguity generated in conjunction with the method of FIG. 5;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing yet further details of the method of FIG.2;

FIG. 6A is a pictorial showing axes of ambiguity and a heave axisgenerated in conjunction with the method of FIG. 6;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing yet further details of the method of FIG.2;

FIG. 7A is a pictorial showing beam intersections with the ocean bottomused to discuss the method of FIG. 7;

FIG. 7B is a pictorial showing forward motion and rotation (yaw) of areceive array identified in conjunction with the method of FIG. 7;

FIGS. 7C-7E taken together are pictorials showing roll rate andhorizontal motion (sway) of a receive array identified in conjunctionwith the method of FIG. 7;

FIGS. 7F and 7G taken together are pictorials showing change in pitch ofa receive array identified in conjunction with the method of FIG. 7;

FIG. 7H is a pictorial showing vertical motion (heave) of a receivearray identified in conjunction with the method of FIG. 7;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing yet further details of the method of FIG.2;

FIG. 8A is a flow chart showing further details of the method of FIG. 8;

FIG. 8B is a pictorial showing altitude calculations forming a part ofthe method of FIG. 8A;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing a method of resolving a cycle ambiguity;

FIG. 9A is a graph showing curves associated with the method of FIG. 9;

FIG. 10 is a is a flow chart showing another method of resolving a cycleambiguity;

FIG. 10A is a graph showing curves associated with the method of FIG.10;

FIGS. 11-11C are graphs showing application of a clipping function toacoustic data; and

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a synthetic aperture sonar processor thatforms a part of the synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Before describing the method and system for a synthetic aperture sonaras contemplated herein, some introductory concepts and terminology areexplained. As used herein, the term “side-scan sonar” refers to a typeof sonar system having a tow body upon which a receive array havingreceive elements is disposed. The receive array of the side-scan sonaris generally horizontally disposed, and is subject to movements of thetow body. The receive array of the side-scan sonar can be used togenerate “receive beams.” The tow body of the side-scan sonar can alsoinclude a transmit array to generate a “transmit beam” that can have thesame beam shape or a different beam shape than the receive beams. Thereceive array and the transmit array can be the same physical array usedin a receive mode or in a transmit mode. The side-scan sonar can operatein a monostatic arrangement.

As used herein, the term “towed array” is used to describe a receivearray, which is towed through the water on a “tow line” by a ship,helicopter, or the like. The receive array of the towed array isgenerally horizontally disposed, and is subject to movements of thetowline. The receive array of the towed array can be used to generate“receive beams.” The receive array and receive elements can also be usedas a transmit array to generate a “transmit beam” that can have the samebeam shape or a different beam shape than the receive beams. However,most conventional towed arrays employ a separate acoustic transmitterseparate from the receive array. The towed array can operate in amonostatic arrangement or in a bistatic arrangement.

As used herein, the term “hull-mounted array” is used to describe asonar array, which is disposed on the hull of a ship, under thewaterline. The receive array of the hull-mounted array is generallyhorizontally disposed, and is subject to movements of the ship. Thereceive array of the hull-mounted array can be used to generate “receivebeams.” The receive array and receive elements can also be used as atransmit array to generate a “transmit beam” that can have the same beamshape or a different beam shape than the receive beams. However, mostconventional hull-mounted arrays employ a separate acoustic transmitterseparate from the receive array in a bistatic arrangement. Thehull-mounted sonar can operate in a monostatic arrangement or in abistatic arrangement.

As used herein, the term “nadir” refers to a distance from a receivearray to the bottom of a body of water, also called a “coarse” altitudeherein.

As used herein, the term “ping” refers to a transmitted acoustic pulse,which can be a continuous wave (CW) pulse, a short pulse, or a CWFM (orotherwise encoded) pulse. A ping is associated with a physical locationand position of a moving transmit and receive array, wherein thelocation and the position change between pings can be described with sixdegrees of motion. An echo associated with the ping is received with thereceive array and beamformed providing “beamformed signals” associatedwith the ping.

As used herein, the term “beam aspect” is used to describe a directionsubstantially perpendicular to an axis of a line array.

As used herein, the terms “position, “orientation,” and “location” areeach used to describe a physical characteristic of an object, e.g., asonar receive array, that can be described with six parameters accordingto six degrees of freedom.

As used herein, the term “reference surface” is used to describe asurface upon which transmitted acoustic energy impinges and from whichan acoustic echo is received by a sonar system. It will become apparentfrom the discussion below that the reference surface is used as asurface related to which position of a receive array can be estimated asit moves though the water. In examples given below, the referencesurface is described to be the ocean bottom. However, in otherarrangements, the reference surface can be, but is not limited to, theupper ocean surface, and a ship hull.

It will be understood that the reference surface is not necessarily anacoustic “target” for which an image, a detection, and/or a localizationare desired. For example, the reference surface can be the ocean bottom,and a target can be a submarine.

Referring to FIG. 1, a synthetic aperture sonar system 10 includes aside-scan sonar tow body 12, shown at a plurality of physical locationsdenoted 12 a-12 d as it is towed through the water. The tow body 12 hasa port receive array (not shown) having port receive elements (notshown) and a starboard receive array (not shown) having starboardreceive elements (not shown). At each physical location 12 a-12 d, theside-scan tow body 12 generates a sound pulse (not shown), which, at thelocation 12 a is received by a plurality of receive beams 14 aa-14 aj,at the location 12 b is received by a plurality of receive beams 14ba-14 bj, at the location 12 c is received by a plurality of receivebeams 14 ca-14 cj, and at the location 12 d is received by a pluralityof receive beams 14 da-14 dj.

The plurality of receive beams 14 aa-14 dj is formed by a beamformingprocessor 16 to provide corresponding beamformed signals 16 a. Asynthetic aperture sonar (SAS) processor 18 operates upon the beamformedsignals 16 a. The SAS processor 18 is adapted to provide estimates ofthe motion of the receive array at each of the positions 12 a-12 d andto perform synthetic aperture beamforming associated with the motionestimates. In one particular embodiment, the motion estimates are in sixdegrees of freedom. The beamforming processor 16 and the SAS processor18 form portions of a sonar processor 20. A graphical user interface 22presents a display associated with the synthetic aperture beamforming.

As used herein, the term “ping pair” is associated with an adjacent twoof the locations 12 a-12 d, for example, the positions 12 a and 12 b. Itwill be understood that a ping is generated at each of the locations 12a-12 d and an echo from the bottom surface of a body of water (i.e., areference surface) is received at each of the locations 12 a-12 daccording to the associated receive beams.

As used herein, the term “beam index” refers to a beam from among aplurality of beams in azimuth at any one of the position 12 a-12 d. Forexample, beams 14 aa, 14 ba, 14 ca, 14 da can correspond to beam indexzero, beams 14 ab, 14 bb, 14 cb, 14 db can correspond to beam index one,etc.

As used herein, the term “beam pair” refers to selected receive beams atan adjacent two of the locations 12 a-12 d, for example, the receivebeams 14 ac and 14 bc. A beam pair need not be comprised of beams havingthe same beam index. Therefore, for example, another beam pair caninclude the beams 14 ac and 14 bb.

As used herein, the term “N-ping block” refers to a predeterminednumber, N, of positions of the receive array at which a ping isgenerated and a corresponding echo is received. For example, anexemplary N-ping block can correspond to four pings, to the fourlocations 12 a-12 d, and to the received beams 14 aa-14 dj as shown.However, it should be appreciated that the N-ping block can correspondto more than four or fewer than four pings. In one particularembodiment, for example, the N-ping block includes five hundred twelvepings, corresponding receive array locations, and corresponding receivearray receive beams.

While a side-scan sonar tow body and receive beams are shown, it shouldbe appreciated that the above terms and the following concepts applyalso to a towed array, a hull-mounted array, or an array mounted on anyother platform such as an unmanned, underwater vehicle (UUV). Also,while ten receive beams are shown at each of four locations 12 a-12 d,it should be appreciated that the receive array can be associated withmore than ten or fewer than ten receive beams. While the locations 12a-12 d are shown to be relatively widely spaced, it will become apparentin FIG. 1A below, that the locations at which pings and receive beamsoccur can be more closely spaced.

Referring now to FIG. 1A, the side-scan sonar tow body 12 is shown attwo locations 30 a, 30 b, which differ by only a small amount. Forclarity, only some of a plurality of receive beams are shown. At thelocation 30 a, receive beams 32 aa, 32 ah, 32 ai, and 32 ap are shown.At the location 30 b, receive beams 32 ba, 32 bh, 32 bi, and 32 bp areshown. The location 30 a and the receive beams 32 aa, 32 ah, 32 ai, and32 ap are associated with a first ping=0, which corresponds to transmitbeampatterns 34 aa, 34 ab. The location 30 b and the receive beams 32ba, 32 bh, 32 bi, and 32 bp are associated with a second ping=1, whichcorresponds to transmit beampatterns 34 ba, 34 bb.

It will be appreciated that the transmit beampatterns 34 aa, 34 ab, 34ba, 34 bb can have beamwidths substantially larger than the receivebeampatterns 32 aa, 32 ah, 32 ai, 32 ap, 32 ba, 32 bh, 32 bi, 32 bp.Also, in one particular embodiment, there are only two transmitbeampatterns as shown.

As described above, there can be any number of pings. However, unlikethe receive beams 14 aa-14 dj of FIG. 1, the receive beams 32 aa, 32 ah,32 ai, and 32 ap at the first location 30 a overlap with ones of thereceive beams 32 ba, 32 bh, 32 bi, and 32 bp at the second location 30b. This arrangement corresponds to a slower tow speed and/or a fasterping rate than shown above in FIG. 1.

Referring now to FIG. 1B, in which like elements of FIG. 1 are shownhaving like reference designations, a front view of the tow body 12 atposition 30 a shows the two transmit beams 34 aa and 34 ab. Port andstarboard direction are indicated relative to a local x, y, z coordinatesystem 36, 38, 40, respectively, having an x-axis 36 aligned with thetow body 12 at position 30 a. The local coordinate system and the portand starboard designation are used below in mathematical relationships.

The tow body 12 is towed at an altitude 42 above a bottom surface 41 ofthe ocean or other body of water. The bottom surface 41 is used as areference surface.

The transmit beams 34 aa, 34 ab, as shown do not appear to project soundvertically (or directly in a shortest path) to the bottom surface 41.However, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that acousticbeampatterns are not bounded exactly as shown, and they do emit and/orreceive energy at other angles as well, including but not limited to, avertical angle directed toward the bottom surface 41.

Referring now to FIG. 1C, in which like elements of FIGS. 1A-1B areshown having like reference designations, the tow body 12 at position 30a has receive beams 32 aa-32 ah to starboard, and receive beams 32 ai-32ap to port. While sixteen receive beams are shown, there can be morethan sixteen or fewer than sixteen receive beams.

It should be appreciated that FIGS. 2-4, 4B, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8A, 9, and 10show flowcharts corresponding to the below contemplated technique whichwould be implemented in computer system 20 (FIG. 1). The rectangularelements (typified by element 102 in FIG. 3), herein denoted “processingblocks,” represent computer software instructions or groups ofinstructions. The diamond shaped elements (typified by element 116 inFIG. 3), herein denoted “decision blocks,” represent computer softwareinstructions, or groups of instructions which affect the execution ofthe computer software instructions represented by the processing blocks.

Alternatively, the processing and decision blocks represent stepsperformed by functionally equivalent circuits such as a digital signalprocessor circuit or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).The flow diagrams do not depict the syntax of any particular programminglanguage. Rather, the flow diagrams illustrate the functionalinformation one of ordinary skill in the art requires to fabricatecircuits or to generate computer software to perform the processingrequired of the particular system. It should be noted that many routineprogram elements, such as initialization of loops and variables and theuse of temporary variables are not shown. It will be appreciated bythose of ordinary skill in the art that unless otherwise indicatedherein, the particular sequence of blocks described is illustrative onlyand can be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention.Thus, unless otherwise stated the blocks described below are unorderedmeaning that, when possible, the steps can be performed in anyconvenient or desirable order.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a process 50 can be implemented, for example,in the sonar processor 20 of FIG. 1. The process 50 begins atbeamforming group of blocks 50 a, where a physical sonar systemtransmits and receives an N-ping block, and beamforms the received echosignals.

A general motion estimation method would result in motion estimates ofthe receive array in a continuous spatial domain. However, this cannotbe directly achieved with discrete-time (i.e., digitally sampled) data.Therefore, motion estimation is performed in two stages. First, aquantized initialization group of blocks 50 b provides a spatiallyquantized estimate of several types of motion of the receive array as itprogresses through the water. Next, a continuous position estimationgroup of blocks 50 c generates a spatially-continuous estimate of motion(location and/or position) of the receive array as it moves through thewater using “Phase Linearization” criteria. The Phase Linearizationcriteria, further described below in conjunction with FIG. 7, provides alinearization of small perturbations in continuous spatial position ofthe receive array. The motion estimate from the quantized initializationgroup of blocks 50 b is used as a linearization point in the continuousposition estimation group of blocks 50 c. The Phase Linearizationcriteria allows accurate, spatially continuous, motion estimation of thereceive array as it progresses through the water. A post-processinggroup of blocks 50 d provides synthetic aperture processing including,for example, coordinate transformations and image formation.

The beamforming group of blocks 50 a begins at block 52, where a sonarsystem, for example a side-scan sonar system, transmits a set oftransmit pings, in transmit beams and in an N-Ping block. The N-pingblock is described above to include pings at plurality of locations of areceive array. Each ping can include one or more transmit beampatterns,for example, two transmit beampatterns as shown in FIG. 1B, where one isto port and the other to starboard of a direction of travel.

At block 54, a set of echoes are received from the bottom surface ofwater (i.e., a reference surface), each echo corresponding to one of thetransmit pings. At block 56, a receive array provides receivebeampatterns resulting in beamformed signals. The beamformed signals cancorrespond for example, to the beamformed signals 16 a of FIG. 1. Thereceive beampatterns can correspond, for example, to the receivebeampatterns 14 aa-14 dj of FIG. 1.

The quantized initialization group of blocks 50 b begins at block 58where, in conjunction with the beamformed signals, the sonar processoridentifies “coarse” altitudes associated with positions of the receivearray substantially concurrent with one or more of the pings in theN-ping block. Identification of the coarse altitudes is described morefully in conjunction with FIG. 3. However, let it suffice here to saythat the coarse altitudes are identified by way of a time delayassociated with a sound propagation vertically to and from the bottomsurface of the body of water.

At block 60, in conjunction with the beamformed signals, the sonarprocessor identifies “fine” altitude differences and “fine” horizontaldisplacements associated with positions of the receive arraysubstantially concurrent with one or more of the pings in the N-pingblock. Identification of the fine altitude differences and finehorizontal displacements is described more fully in conjunction withFIG. 4 and FIG. 4A. However, let it suffice here to say that the finealtitude differences are identified by way of a correlation of abeamformed signal at a location of each ping with a beamformed signal ata prior location. In one particular embodiment, the correlations areclipped correlations, as described, for example, in conjunction withFIGS. 11-11C.

At block 62, the fine altitude differences and fine horizontaldisplacements generated at block 60 are improved to provide greateraccuracy and resolution, providing “high-precision” altitude differencesand “high-precision” horizontal displacements. Identification of thehigh-precision altitude differences and high-precision horizontaldisplacements is described more fully in conjunction with FIGS. 5-5E.However, let it suffice here to say that the high-precision altitudedifferences and high-precision horizontal displacements are identifiedby way of an interpolation process performed upon the correlations ofblock 60.

At block 64, a correction for random sway (random horizontaldisplacements) is made, providing “sway-reduced” altitudes and“sway-reduced” horizontal displacements. Sway reduction is describedmore fully below in FIGS. 6 and 6A. However, let is suffice here to saythat random horizontal displacements are identified and removed from thehigh-precision altitude differences and high-precision horizontaldisplacements.

The continuous position estimation group of blocks 50 c begins at block66, where continuous positions of the receive array are calculated byapplying the sway-reduced altitude differences and the sway-reducedhorizontal displacements to “phase linearity equations.” The phaselinearity equations are described more fully in conjunction with FIGS.7-7H. However, let it suffice here to say that the phase linearityequations make use of receive array symmetries in order to geometricallycalculate motion in several degrees of freedom. In one particularembodiment, the phase linearity equations can provide estimates ofmotion of the receive array in six degrees of freedom. As will bedescribed below, the resulting heave (vertical motion) positionestimates may be contaminated by errors resulting from a DC pitch of thereceive array. At block 68, heave errors due to DC pitch are resolvedand reduced as described in more detail with FIGS. 8-8B. The postprocessing group of blocks 50 d begins at block 70, where if the abovecalculations were done in a coordinate system local to the receivearray, then the position estimates are converted to earth coordinates,for example, north-east-down (NED) coordinates. At block 72, theposition estimates are used to perform synthetic aperture sonarbeamforming and image formation.

It should be apparent from the above discussion that blocks 58-64provide increasingly accurate estimates of altitude and horizontaldisplacement. Coarse altitudes and coarse horizontal displacements areprovided at block 58, fine altitude differences and fine horizontaldisplacements are provided at block 60, high-precision altitudedifferences and high-precision horizontal displacements are provided atblock 62, and sway-reduced altitude differences and sway-reducedhorizontal displacements are provided at block 64. Block 66 provideseven more accurate positions with up to six unquantized degrees offreedom, and block 68 removes a pitch contamination of heave (altitude)calculations.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a process 100, which provides the coarsealtitudes described above in conjunction with block 58 of FIG. 2, beginsat block 102, where a plurality of beamformed signals are selectedassociated with an N-ping block, each beamformed signal associated withan aspect beam (essentially perpendicular to a direction of travel). Atblock 104, a bottom detection threshold is selected and at block 106,the selected beamformed signals are compared to the bottom detectionthreshold. Resulting signals are processed at block 108 usingmorphological erosion and at block 110 using morphological dilation.

Morphological erosion is a known technique that can be applied tothresholded data, to eliminate small sets of foreground (sea floor)samples that are spatially surrounded by background (water column)samples. This removes clutter such as fish in the water column, but alsoshifts the nadir return to longer range. Morphological dilation is aknown technique that can be applied to the eroded data to restore theremaining nadir return to almost its original position, without bringingback the clutter removed by erosion. The net result is a more accuratedetection of the bottom surface in block 112.

At block 114, two or more detections of the bottom surface associatedwith a respective two or more pings can be median filtered. For example,for each ping, the detection of the bottom surface associated with thatping and also bottom detections associated with pings before and after,for example three pings before and three pings after, can be used toprovide a median coarse altitude associated with that ping.

At block 114, having completed coarse altitude determinations for allpings of an N-ping block, if it is the last N-ping block as shown bydecision block 116, the process ends. If there is another N-ping block,the process moves to the next N-ping block accordingly at block 118, theprocess returns to step 102, and the process 102 through 114 repeats foranother N-ping block.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a process 150 is used to generate fine altitudedifferences and fine horizontal displacements in accordance with block60 of FIG. 2. The process 150 is an adaptive process that, inassociation with block 202 described below, uses a multi-scale search toestimate altitude differences (changes). A set of candidate beam pairsis used since there is no prior knowledge of which beam pairs willspatially overlap best for unknown motion. In a particular embodiment,the multi-scale search first tries each of a small set of relativelysmall candidate altitude differences, i.e., a first “scale,” associatedwith common physical motions. If processing with the first scale failsto yield an acceptable solution, then processing is repeated with asecond scale, i.e., a larger set of candidate altitude differencesincluding more extreme altitude differences. Typically, the processingat the second scale will only be needed for a small percentage of theping pairs.

The process 150 begins at decision block 152, where, for the firstN-ping block, the process continues to decision block 154. If atdecision block 154, it is the first N-ping block, the process continuesto block 156, where a ping number index, p, is initialized to one.

At decision block 158, if the ping number index, p, is less than N, thenumber of pings in the N-ping block, the process continues to block 160,where a set of beam pairs associated with each ping is identified. Beampairs are described above. In one particular embodiment, there are twobeam pairs associated with each ping. For example, one beam pair caninclude a beam-aspect receive beam at the first location of the receivearray and a beam-aspect receive beam at the second location of thereceive array. In this example, another beam pair can include abeam-aspect receive beam at the first location of the receive array anda beam pointed slightly to the rear at the second location of thereceive array. With this particular embodiment, it should be recognizedthat the receive beams at the first and second locations of the receivearray can point to the same region of the bottom surface of the waterbody, even though they have different beam indices, because the receivearray has moved forward in the interval between the associated pings.

At block 162, a correlation threshold, correlation_threshold, isidentified, which is applied to correlation vectors described below. Atblock 164, a scale index, scale_index, is initialized to one. Asdiscussed above, motion of many types of sonar platforms usually hasonly small altitude changes from ping to ping, but occasionally haslarger changes. As used herein, the term “scale” refers to a set ofcandidate altitude differences spanning an altitude difference range.Different scales having progressively larger altitude difference rangescan be processed to facilitate rapid searching over the more likelyscales, which have smaller altitude difference ranges. In a particularimplementation, the set of candidate altitude differences are equallyspaced, to uniformly search over altitude. However, in otherimplementations, the altitude differences are non-uniformly spaced. Thescale index, scale_index, is indicative of a particular set of candidatealtitude differences.

At block 166, a maximum correlation vector variable, max_corr, isinitialized to zero. The maximum correlation vector variable is used toretain a maximum value of an envelope of the coherent correlation vectorvalue associated with correlations below. It will become apparent fromdiscussion below that max_corr is associated with a fine altitudedifference and a fine horizontal displacement of the receive array.

The process proceeds to decision block 168, where, if scale_index isless than or equal to the number of scales (e.g., two) and max_corr isless than correlation_threshold (i.e., no acceptable altitude differencehas been found, but untried candidate altitude differences remain), thenthe process proceeds to block 170 where a beam pair index,beam_pair_index=bp, is initialized to one. As described above, the beampair index is a number than identifies one of one or more beam pairs.Each member of a beam pair is associated with a different adjacentlocation of the receive array and a corresponding different ping. Any ofa plurality of receive beams at each of the two locations can be in thebeam pair.

The process proceeds to decision block 172, where, if bp is less than orequal to the number of beam pairs and if max_corr is less than thecorrelation threshold, then the process proceeds to block 174, where agroup of candidate altitude differences associated with the scale isselected.

At block 176, an altitude index, altitude_index=ai, is initialized toone. The altitude index is an index number that identifies which one ofthe candidate altitude differences is used in subsequent processing. Atdecision block 178, if altitude_index is less than or equal to thenumber of candidate altitude differences selected at block 174, then thecorresponding candidate altitude difference is evaluated starting atblock 180.

At block 180, beamformed signals for each of the beamformed signals inthe beam pair (e.g., associated with pings p and p+1) are converted tohorizontal aspect (i.e., horizontal-range). The beam in the beam pair atping=p is converted using the coarse altitude identified in FIG. 3 andthe beam in the beam pair at ping=p+1 is converted using a candidatealtitude equaling the ping=p coarse altitude plus the candidate altitudedifference identified by altitude_index=ai. One of ordinary skill in theart will understand how to perform the slant-range to horizontal-rangeconversion.

At block 182, the resulting horizontal-range beamformed signals arecorrelated, resulting in a correlation vector having correlation values.Within the correlation vector, it is anticipated that one of the vectorvalues may be higher than the other vector values, and may be indicativethat the selected candidate altitude difference associated withaltitude_index=ai is the actual altitude difference between thealtitudes of the receive array at pings p and p+1. Also, ahorizontal-range shift used in the correlation to achieve the highcorrelation value may be associated with a horizontal displacement ofthe receive array between pings p and p+1. However, a still highercorrelation value may be achieved in a correlation vector for anothercandidate altitude. In one particular embodiment, the correlations areclipped correlations, as described, for example, in conjunction withFIGS. 11-11C.

At block 184, the max_corr, previously initialized to zero at block 166,is updated to equal the maximum of either max_corr or the maximumcorrelation vector value of the correlation vector generated at block182. The maximum correlation vector value is retained along with theassociated beam_pair_index, the associated difference altitude=dalt(ai)corresponding to the candidate altitude_index=ai, and a potentialhorizontal displacement=dhoriz(ai) associated with the maximum vectorvalue.

At block 186, an ambiguity matrix is updated. The ambiguity matrix willbe understood from discussion in conjunction with FIG. 4A. However, letit suffice here to say that the ambiguity matrix is a numerical matrixfor which each row corresponds to a correlation having correlationvalues computed in block 182 and each different row corresponds to acorrelation generated at a different candidate altitude difference.

The process proceeds to block 204, where the candidate altitudedifference is updated by incrementing altitude_index=ai to ai+1. Theprocess loops though blocks 178-186 and 204 until each candidatealtitude difference has been evaluated. At each loop, the maximumcorrelation value, max_corr, is retained along with the associatedbeam_pair_index, the associated difference altitude=dalt(ai), and apotential horizontal displacement=dhoriz(ai) associated with the maximumvector value. With this arrangement, a maximum vector value from among aplurality of correlation vectors is identified along with associatedinformation.

The ambiguity matrix updated at block 186 is iteratively constructed asthe process loops though blocks 178-186 and 204. The ambiguity matrix isfurther described below in conjunction with FIG. 4A. However, asdescribed above, the ambiguity matrix is a matrix of vector values, eachdifferent row corresponding to a correlation vector generated in block182 at a different candidate altitude difference indexed at block 204.At least one of the vector values in the matrix is a largest value equalto max_corr.

Subsequent processing beginning at block 198 provides exceptionprocessing, for the case where a suitable max_corr value was notobtained in blocks 178-186 and 204. At block 198, beam_pair_index isincremented by one and the process proceeds again to decision block 172.If at decision block 172, the processing of blocks 178-186 and 204 didnot provide a suitable max_corr valued, i.e., if max_corr is less thanthe correlation threshold selected at block 162 and if the new beam pairis not beyond the last beam pair, i.e., if the beam_pair_index is lessthan or equal to the number of beam pairs, then the process of blocks174-186, 198, and 204 is repeated using the new beam pair. If, however,the above conditions are not met, then the process proceeds to block202, where the scale index is incremented.

As described above, a greater scale index corresponds to a set of lesscommonly occurring altitude differences used in the horizontal rangeconversions of block 180. The process proceeds to decision block 168,where, if the processing of blocks 178-186, 198, and 204 did not providea suitable max_corr value, i.e., if max_corr is less than thecorrelation threshold selected at block 162 and if the new scale is notbeyond the final scale, then the process of blocks 170-186, 198 and 204is repeated for the candidate altitude differences at the new scaleindex. If, however, the above conditions are not met, then the currentaltitude difference and horizontal range shift corresponding to max_corrare accepted at block 194 even if the maximum correlation was beneaththe correlation threshold. Then, the process proceeds to block 190.

The process proceeds to block 190 where the ping pair is incremented byincrementing p=p+1 and the process proceeds to decision block 158. If atdecision block 158, all of the pings in the ping block have not beenused in the processing, then the process of blocks 160-186, 204, and 202repeats with the new ping pair. If however, at decision block 158, allof the pings in the ping block have been processed, then the processingproceeds to decision block 152. At decision block 152, if there are nomore N-Ping blocks, the process ends. However if there is another N-pingblock, the process repeats, incrementing to the next N-ping block atblock 188.

From the above discussion, and in summary, it should be apparent thatfor each ping pair, the corresponding beamformed signals associated witha beam pair are first converted to horizontal range. The first one ofthe beams in the beam pair is converted using a coarse altitude asidentified by the process 100 of FIG. 3. The second one of the beams inthe beam pair is converted using a variety of candidate altitudedifferences. A correlation of the two horizontal range beamformedsignals yields not only a fine altitude difference, but also a finehorizontal displacement between locations of a receive arraycorresponding to the two pings in the ping pair.

Referring now to FIG. 4A, an ambiguity matrix 210, such as thatgenerated at block 200 of FIG. 4 includes columns 212 a-212 p associatedwith time delays, which are equivalent to horizontal displacements. Theambiguity matrix also includes rows 214 a-214 f corresponding tocorrelations using the candidate altitude differences indexed by thealtitude_index=ai.

Each row of the ambiguity matrix is generated as a correlation havingcorrelation values represented by boxes along each row. The correlationvectors can be those associated with block 182 of FIG. 4. Thecorrelation values of the ambiguity matrix are shown, where the darkestbox 216 a has the highest correlation, the many white boxes have nearlyzero correlation, and the crosshatched boxes have intermediatecorrelation values. The crosshatched boxes 216 b-216 g have fairly highcorrelation and might be mistaken for a peak (e.g., box 216 a) in thepresence of noise. As used herein, an ellipse-like set of boxes 216a-216 g is referred to as an “ambiguity surface.” A “major axis ofambiguity” 218 can be generated passing through the fairlyhigh-correlation boxes 216 a-216 g of the ambiguity surface.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a process 300 associated with the block 62 ofFIG. 2 begins at block 302 where a coarse major axis of ambiguity isdrawn through the maximum vector values of correlation vectors. A coarsemajor axis of ambiguity 218 is shown, for example, in FIG. 4A.

The ambiguity matrix thus far described, for example, the ambiguitymatrix 210 of FIG. 4A has a particular resolution and precision inhorizontal range and in altitude. The resolution is the size of theambiguity surface, which is controlled primarily by the transmit signaland the width of the depression angle swath used in correlation. It isindependent of quantization effects. In contrast, the precision withwhich the peak of the ambiguity surface can be measured is directlylinked to the spatial sampling rate. The precision in altitude isdetermined by a granularity of the candidate altitude differencesselected at block 174 of FIG. 4. The horizontal range precision isdetermined by the spatial sampling rate used in the conversion tohorizontal range in block 180 of FIG. 4. The coarsest allowableprecision is controlled by Nyquist rate issues in the time-domaintransmit signal, etc., which is in turn linked to the ambiguity surfaceresolution.

In order to improve the precision of the major axis of ambiguity, itwould be desirable to have a finer horizontal spacing of the boxes, fora more precise estimate of the horizontal-range shift of peakcorrelation for a given altitude difference. Therefore, at block 304,the beamformed signals are interpolated to a higher sampling rate, whichis used at block 306 to convert interpolated beamformed signals tohorizontal range at a higher spatial sampling rate. The ambiguity matrixis regenerated with correspondingly smaller horizontal boxes in block308.

In one particular embodiment, the higher density ambiguity matrix isonly populated in the vicinity of the known coarse axis of ambiguity,since it is highly likely that an altitude and a horizontal displacementidentified in the coarse ambiguity matrix is close to that identified bythe maximum vector value in the higher density ambiguity matrix. One ofordinary skill in the art will understand that each entry in theambiguity matrix is generated during the correlations by a dot productof the two-beamformed signals. Therefore, individual cells of theambiguity surface can be populated (calculated) with dot products. Theuse of dot products results in a rapid population of the ambiguitysurface in the vicinity of the coarse axis of ambiguity.

In an alternate arrangement, however, the full correlations described inconjunction with FIG. 4 can be regenerated using a finer spacing of timedelays to populate the entire higher density ambiguity surface. Usingfull correlations would likely take more processing time thancalculating only dot products in the vicinity of the known coarse axisof ambiguity.

With either arrangement, a mid-precision major axis of ambiguity can beestablished from the high-precision ambiguity surface.

The mid-precision major axis of ambiguity corresponds to the slope ofthe high-amplitude portion of the ambiguity matrix, i.e., the ambiguitysurface. In order to estimate the slope precisely, block 310 postulatesa set of candidate slopes, ∂alt/∂hor, and plots the maximum over allhorizontal shifts of the sum over all altitudes of the correlation alonga line of slope ∂alt/∂hor on the ambiguity surface. The curve is furtherdescribed below in conjunction with FIG. 5D.

At block 312, a parabola or other mathematical function is fit to thecurve generated at block 310. The mathematical function is also furtherdescribed below in conjunction with FIG. 5D.

At block 314, a peak of the parabola or other mathematical function isidentified. The peak of the parabola is associated with a high-precisionaltitude difference and a high-precision horizontal displacement.

At block 316, the high-precision altitude difference and high-precisionhorizontal displacement are identified in accordance with the peak ofthe mathematical function.

At block 318, high-precision major and minor axes of ambiguity aredetermined. The high-precision major axis of ambiguity passes throughthe high-precision altitude difference and high-precision horizontaldisplacement on the high-precision ambiguity surface identified at block316. The high-precision minor axis of ambiguity is perpendicular to themajor axis of ambiguity.

If the last N-ping block has been processed, then at decision block 320,the process ends. If the last N-ping block has not been processed, thenas shown in block 322 the next N-ping block is selected and the process302-320 is repeated.

Referring now to FIG. 5A, the maximum correlation value may occur ineither a single box 352 or it may occur in a plurality of boxes. In aparticular embodiment, an arbitrary one of the plurality of boxes withmaximum correlation is chosen as the peak. The box 352 of maximumcorrelation is associated with a fine horizontal displacement 354 andwith a fine altitude difference 356, which are identified by a columnand a row, respectively, of the box 352.

Referring now to FIG. 5B, in which like elements of FIG. 5A are shownhaving like reference designations, a coarse major axis of ambiguity 358is estimated to pass through the maximum vector value 352 and othermaximums in other rows of the ambiguity surface 350. The coarse majoraxis of ambiguity is estimated, for example, in block 302 of FIG. 5.

Referring now to FIG. 5C, in which like elements of FIGS. 5A and 5B areshown having like reference designations, a high-precision ambiguitysurface 360 is constructed by interpolating the beamformed signals andproviding smaller time delay increments and associated horizontaldisplacements for each row of the surface. However, contrary to the fullhigh-precision ambiguity surface 360 shown, only some of the dotproducts in the vicinity of the coarse axis of ambiguity 358 arecalculated to provide new dot product maxima (shown as crosshatchedboxes) and a corresponding mid-precision axis of ambiguity 364 asdescribed above in conjunction with block 308 of FIG. 5.

Referring now to FIG. 5D, a graph includes a horizontal axiscorresponding to a slope, ∂alt/∂hor, of the major axis of the ambiguitysurface, and a vertical axis indicating the optimality of the candidateslope. An optimality metric plotted in curve 372 is a maximumcorrelation vector value over all horizontal shifts of the sum over allaltitudes of the correlation along a line having a slope ∂alt/∂hor onthe ambiguity surface. A mathematical function 374 is used to fit to thecurve 372. In one particular embodiment, the mathematical function is aparabolic function. However, in other embodiments other functions can beused, for example, a polynomial function. A peak 376 is identified andthe corresponding slope, ∂alt/∂hor, is used in computing thehigh-precision major and minor axes of ambiguity.

Referring now to FIG. 5E, a high-precision major axis of ambiguity 380is defined to have a slope equal to that for the peak 376 in FIG. 5D.The high-precision minor axis of ambiguity 382 is defined to beorthogonal to the major axis 380.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a process 400 provides sway reduction asdescribed at block 64 of FIG. 2. The process begins at block 402, wherecorrelation vector value maxima are identified along a plurality of axesof ambiguity for an N-ping block, each associated with a respective pingpair.

At block 406, a vertical heave axis is identified in association withthe plurality of axes of ambiguity. At block 408, the maxima on theplurality of axes of ambiguity are adjusted along the axes of ambiguityto intersect the vertical heave axis by adjusting the high-precisionaltitude differences and high-precision horizontal displacements forpings in the ping block in accordance with the vertical heave axis. Atdecision block 410, if the N-ping block is the last N-ping block, theprocess ends. However, if there is another N-ping block, the processcontinues to block 412, where another N-ping block is selected and theprocess repeats.

Referring now to FIG. 6A, the process 400 of FIG. 6 is shown ingraphical form. A vertical axis 460 corresponds to a high-precisionaltitude difference and a horizontal axis 462 corresponds to ahigh-precision horizontal displacement, for example, as identified inconjunction with the process of FIG. 5. A plurality of high-precisionaxes of ambiguity 452 a-452 l is determined in accordance with theprocesses of FIGS. 4-5E, each high-precision axis of ambiguitycorresponding to a high-precision ambiguity surface constructed inassociation with a ping pair. The high-precision axes of ambiguity havesimilar slope. An open point shown on each high-precision axis ofambiguity corresponds to a high-precision altitude difference and ahigh-precision horizontal displacement, each of which are describedabove in conjunction with FIG. 5.

For many sonar platforms, such as towed bodies, kinematics of the towedbody are known a-priori to have fairly steady sway (crabbing) and highlyvariable heave. The heave is often nearly sinusoidal, and is physicallycaused by the ocean waves. However, it can be seen that the open pointsin FIG. 6A have greater horizontal displacement variation than vertical.This is not physically valid, and arises due to imprecise selection ofthe peak of the ambiguity surface. In order to help reduce this problem,a sway-reduction algorithm shifts each open point along its major axisof ambiguity (the domain where the imprecision arose) such that everyopen point has the same horizontal shift.

A vertical heave axis 454 can be generated, for example, at a positioncorresponding to a median of the horizontal displacements indicated bythe open points. In another embodiment, the vertical heave axis 454 canbe placed at an average of the horizontal displacements indicated by theopen points.

Having the vertical heave axis 454, each open point can be moved alongits respective major axis of ambiguity 452 a-452 l to arrive at thevertical heave axis 454. Once moved, the open points become the solidpoints on the vertical line, each corresponding to a sway-reducedaltitude difference and a sway-reduced horizontal displacement.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a process 500 corresponds to block 66 of FIG.2, which is the beginning of the continuous position estimation set ofblocks 50 c. Synthetic aperture sonar performs a coherent sum ofbeamformed signals over a plurality of pings. It requires alignment(provided by position estimation) to significantly sub-wavelengthprecision, which the initialization blocks 50 b of FIG. 2 might notachieve unless the sampling rate is orders of magnitude above a Nyquistrate. The Phase Linearization technique is used to achievesub-wavelength precision. A Phase Linearization criterion correspondingto correlation is expressed in terms of a continuous spatial domain, andthen it is linearized with respect to small perturbations in thecontinuous spatial domain from the estimates obtained by theinitialization blocks 50 b of FIG. 2. Several symmetry properties areused to approximately decouple the Phase Linearization between thevarious degrees of freedom, therefore simplifying computation.

The process 500 begins at decision block 502, where for a first N-pingblock, the process proceeds to decision block 504 and then to block 506.At block 506 a ping number, p, is initialized to one.

The process proceeds to decision block 508, where, if the ping number isless than N, the process proceeds to block 510. At block 510, a pingpair is selected to include ping p and ping p+1. At block 512, localcoordinates are selected in accordance with a position of the receivearray at ping p. Local coordinates are described in conjunction withFIGS. 1B and 1C. At block 514, the sway-reduced altitude difference andthe sway-reduced horizontal displacement are identified for both ping pand ping p+1. The sway-reduced altitude difference and sway-reducedhorizontal displacement are described above in conjunction with FIGS. 6and 6A. In alternate arrangements, the fine altitude differences andfine horizontal displacements or the high-precision altitude differencesand high-precision horizontal displacements can be used instead.

At block 516, forward motion and yaw of the receive array are estimatedbetween pings p and p+1. To this end, at block 518, four beam pairs areselected associated with the ping pair, symmetrical port and starboardabout the receive array, and symmetrical fore and aft about beam aspect.At block 520, first Phase Linearization equations are used to calculatethe forward motion and yaw estimates. The first Phase Linearizationequations are described below in conjunction with FIG. 7A.

At block 522, roll rate (not roll) and sway of the receive array areestimated between pings p and p+1. To this end, at block 524, two beampairs are selected associated with the ping pair, one port and onestarboard, and at equal azimuth about beam aspect. At block 526, secondPhase Linearization equations are used to calculate the roll rate andsway estimates.

At block 528, change in the pitch of the receive array is estimatedbetween pings p and p+1. To this end, at block 530, two beam pairs areselected associated with the ping pair, starboard (or port) only, andsymmetrical fore and aft about beam aspects. At block 532, third PhaseLinearization equations are used to calculate the change in pitchestimate.

At block 534, heave of the receive array is estimated between pings pand p+1. To this end, at block 536, one beam pair is selected associatedwith the ping pair. The beam pair can be any beam pair. At block 538,fourth Phase Linearization equations are used to calculate the heaveestimate.

It will be understood that some input parameters used in specific PhaseLinearization equations correspond to terms estimated in preceding PhaseLinearization equations. The sway-reduced altitude difference andsway-reduced horizontal displacement are also used in the PhaseLinearization equations. Specific details are presented below.

The process proceeds to block 542, where the ping number, p, isincremented. At decision block 508, if the ping number, p, is less thanN, the process above is repeated for a new ping pair. If at decisionblock 508, the ping number, p, is not less than N, then the processproceeds to decision block 502, where a decision is made as to whethermore N-ping blocks remain. If no more N-ping blocks remain, then theprocess ends. If more N-ping blocks remain, the process proceeds toblock 540, where the N-ping block is incremented to the next N-pingblock and the remaining process blocks described above repeat.

Referring now to FIG. 7A, a pictorial 550 shows a tow body 552 at eachof two positions 552 a, 552 b corresponding to locations of pings p andp+1, respectively. A receive array (not shown) is disposed on the towbody 552.

A first line 554 a corresponds to beam aspect of the receive array whenthe tow body 552 is at the position 552 a. A second line 554 bcorresponds to beam aspect of the receive array when the tow body 552 isat the position 552 b. A first curve 556 a corresponds to anintersection of a receive beam maximum response angle (MRA) with thebottom surface of the water body when the tow body 552 is at theposition 552 a. A second curve 556 b corresponds to an intersection of areceive beam MRA with the bottom surface of the water body when the towbody 552 is at the position 552 b. A dashed line 558 corresponds tomid-line between the curves 556 a, 556 b. The curves 556 a, 556 b, 558are hyperbolas.

A beamformed signal can be modeled as the linear superposition of a setof echoes from a large field of small scatterers lying in the ensonifiedregion of the sea floor. The ensonified region changes between pings andbeams. If the beams are substantially overlapping, then the intersectionof their ensonified fields of small scatterers can be crudelyapproximated as a large field of small scatterers distributed along theaverage 558 of the two hyperbolas 556 a, 556 b. Therefore, the beam pairis correlated and the optimum altitude difference and horizontaldisplacement are indicative of tow-body motion.

The slant-to-horizontal range conversion described in conjunction withblock 180 of FIG. 4 must be based on a “beam-altitude” that equals thetrue altitude divided by the cosine of the MRA (relative to beam aspect)and a “beam-horizontal displacement” corresponding to the beam aspecthorizontal displacement divided by the cosine of the MRA. Thus, thealtitude difference and horizontal displacement obtained above arereally beam-altitude and beam-horizontal range, i.e., they are dependenton beam angle away from aspect.

By modeling the time response in each beam as a linear superposition ofechoes from each scatterer, expressions are derived for how correlationvaries with platform motion. Small perturbations in position areapproximated as having no impact on envelope of a sample of thebeamformed signals. A Taylor series expansion of the phase shift isperformed to obtain the following Phase Linearization criterion:$L_{u} = {\sum\limits_{v \in \Gamma}L_{v,u}}$$L_{v,u} \approx {{G_{p,u}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{u} + ɛ_{z,p,u}},{\gamma_{v,u} + ɛ_{\gamma,p,u}}} )}{G_{{p + 1},u}^{*}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{u} + ɛ_{z,{p + 1},u}},{\gamma_{v,u} + ɛ_{\gamma,{p + 1},u}}} )}{\mathbb{e}}^{{j\Omega}_{v,u}}}$$\Omega_{v,u} = {{\frac{4\pi}{\lambda}\Delta\quad\rho_{v,u}} + {\Delta\quad\zeta_{v,u}}}$${\Delta\quad\rho_{v,u}} = {{{\frac{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{u}}{\sqrt{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{u}^{2} + \gamma_{v,u}^{2}}} \cdot \{ {{\Delta\quad ɛ_{z,u}} + {{\cos( \varphi_{u} )}\lbrack {{\Delta\quad z} \pm {\frac{w}{2}{\Delta\phi}_{x}}} \rbrack} + {{\frac{\phi_{y}}{\cos( \varphi_{u} )} \cdot \Delta}\quad x}} \}}\quad\ldots} + {{\frac{\gamma_{v,u}}{\sqrt{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{u}^{2} + \gamma_{v,u}^{2}}} \cdot \{ {{{\Delta\quad ɛ_{\gamma,u}} \pm {{\cos( \varphi_{u} )}\Delta\quad y}} \mp {{\frac{\phi_{z}}{\cos( \varphi_{u} )} \cdot \Delta}\quad x}} \}}\quad\ldots} + {{\sin( \varphi_{u} )}\Delta\quad x}}$${\Delta\quad\zeta_{v,u}} = {{{{\zeta^{\prime}( {\sin( \varphi_{u} )} )} \cdot \lbrack {{{\cos( \varphi_{u} )} \cdot \{ {{{\frac{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{u}}{\sqrt{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{u}^{2} + \gamma_{v,u}^{2}}} \cdot \Delta}\quad\phi_{y}} \mp {{\frac{\gamma_{v,u}}{\sqrt{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{u}^{2} + \gamma_{v,u}^{2}}} \cdot \Delta}\quad\phi_{z}}} \}} - \frac{\Delta\quad x}{\sqrt{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{u}^{2} + \gamma_{v,u}^{2}}}} \rbrack} \pm} = \{ {{\begin{matrix} + & {starboard} \\ - & {port}\end{matrix} \mp} = \{ \begin{matrix} - & {starboard} \\ + & {port}\end{matrix} } }$where:

-   u=beam_pair_index;-   p=ping_number index;-   v=horizontal sample index, after conversion to horizontal range;-   w=lateral separation of port and starboard arrays;-   λ=acoustic wavelength of carrier frequency;-   L_(u)=Phase Linearization criterion for beam pair u. Typically,    there will be a plurality of beam pairs considered, each with its    own L_(u);-   L_(v,u)=portion of L_(u) arising from horizontal-range sample v;-   G_(p,u)(α,β)=beamformed signal for ping p, beam pair u, at time    2sqrt(α²+β²)/c, for dummy variables α, β roughly corresponding to    altitude and horizontal range;-   G_(p+1,u) ^(*)(α,β)=complex conjugate of beamformed signal for ping    p+1, beam pair u, at time 2sqrt(α²+β²)/c, for dummy variables α, β    roughly corresponding to altitude and horizontal range;-   c=speed of sound in water;-   {tilde over (z)}_(u)=initial altitude for beam pair u;-   Δε_(z,u)=ε_(z,p+1,u)−ε_(z,p,u)=comparable to sway-reduced altitude    difference;-   Δε_(γ,u)=ε_(γ,p+1,u)−ε_(γ,p,u)=comparable to sway-reduced horizontal    displacement;-   ε_(z,p,u)=difference of vertical linearization point in ping p, beam    pair u, from the nominal {tilde over (z)}_(u);-   ε_(z,p+1,u)=difference of vertical linearization point in ping p+1,    beam pair u, from the nominal {tilde over (z)}_(u);-   ε_(γ,p,u)=difference of horizontal-range sample v linearization    point in ping p, beam pair u, from the nominal γ_(v,u). Note that    this is the same for all horizontal-range samples;-   ε_(γ,p+1,u)=difference of horizontal-range sample v linearization    point in ping p+1, beam pair u, from the nominal γ_(v,u). Note that    this is the same for all horizontal-range samples;-   γ_(v,u)=nominal horizontal offset to horizontal-range sample u for    beam pair u, for both pings p and p+1. Note that this will not be    exact offset since it differs between pings;-   Ω_(v,u)=phase introduced in L_(u) by perturbation of linearization    point from true position, and by phase encoding of transmit azimuth;-   Δρ_(v,u)=intermediate dummy variable roughly corresponding to    difference in slant range shifts for pings p and p+1 for sample v,    beam pair u;    ${\varphi_{u} = {\frac{1}{2}( {\varphi_{{p + 1},u} + \varphi_{p,u}} )}};$-   φ_(p+1,u)=MRA of beam corresponding to beam pair u for ping p+1    relative to beam aspect (i.e., relative body coordinates, not fixed    Earth coordinates);-   φ_(p,u)=MRA of beam corresponding to beam pair u for ping p relative    to beam aspect (i.e., relative body coordinates, not fixed Earth    coordinates);-   Δx=displacement along the x-axis, forward (see FIGS. 1B, 1C for    axes);-   Δy=displacement along the y-axis, starboard;-   Δz=displacement along the z-axis, down;-   φ_(x)=angle about the x-axis (roll);-   φ_(y)=angle about the y-axis (pitch);-   φ_(z)=angle about the z-axis (yaw);-   ζ(φ)=transmit phase for azimuth φ relative to beam aspect;-   Δζ_(v,u)=differential phase arising from phase encoding azimuth into    the transmit beam, at sample v, beam pair u;-   ζ′=∂ζ/∂φ, partial derivative of transmit phase with respect to    azimuth; and-   Γ=the set of all horizontal-range samples v.

The above criterion, L_(u), is optimized when motion estimates areperturbed so L_(u) reaches its real-valued maximum for all beam pairssimultaneously.

Phase Linearization is based on the premise that time delays can beapproximated by phase shifts. This is suitable only for narrow bandsignals with a broad depression angle swath (so destructive interferenceof phase occurs before the envelope substantially shifts). If this werenot satisfied, then an analogous time linearization would be needed.

The Phase Linearization equations are a function of six variables, andthey are non-convex. Therefore, it would be difficult to apply moststandard optimization algorithms to solve the Phase Linearizationequations. However, symmetries can be used to make various terms in thePhase Linearization equations cancel, to decouple the optimization. Theprocedure is as follows.

In conjunction with blocks 52-64 of FIG. 2, a sway-reduced altitudedifference and a sway-reduced horizontal displacement are estimated. Aninitial beam-altitude (discussed above in conjunction with FIG. 7A) isgenerated as:${\overset{\sim}{z}}_{u} = \frac{\frac{1}{2}\{ {a_{p} + a_{p + 1}} \}}{\cos( \varphi_{u} )}$where a_(p) and a_(p+1) are altitude estimates of coarse precisionobtained from the nadir return for ping p and p+1. It is important touse the coarse altitudes here because they are accurate (no drift due toDC biases like altitude difference in the presence of pitch), albeitimprecise (coarse resolution in time). The Δε_(z,u) and Δε_(γ,u)differences are comparable to sway-reduced altitude difference andsway-reduced horizontal displacement, respectively. Slight variationsfrom these values may be beneficial in certain embodiments. Correlationcan be applied to the two beams in horizontal range for severalcandidate altitudes to find the ε_(z,p,u), ε_(γp,u), ε_(z,p+1,u), andε_(γ,p+1,u) that maximize the envelope of correlation. It must beemphasized that these terms only loosely correspond to any particularphysical quantity, and are merely an expedient point at which tolinearize the above-identified criterion.

Next, we define an inner product that combines the L_(u) between and twobeam pairs u=α and u=β: {tilde over (L)}_(v,u)${\overset{\sim}{L}}_{\alpha,\beta} = {\langle {L_{\alpha}.L_{\beta}} \rangle = {\sum\limits_{v \in \Gamma}{L_{v,\alpha}L_{v,\beta}^{*}}}}$where:

-   {tilde over (L)}_(α,β)=joint Phase Linearization criterion for beam    pairs α and β;-   L_(α,v)=Phase Linearization criterion L_(u) for beam pair u=α, at    horizontal-range sample v; and-   L^(*) _(β,v)=complex conjugate of Phase Linearization criterion    L_(u), for beam pair u=β, at horizontal-range sample v.

If certain approximations of the motion parameters are available, afirst approximation can be made to approximate the inner product terms:$\begin{matrix}{{\hat{L}}_{v,u} = \begin{matrix}{G_{p,u}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{u} + ɛ_{z,p,u}},{\gamma_{v,u} + ɛ_{\gamma,p,u}}} )} \\{{G_{{p + 1},u}^{*}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{u} + ɛ_{z,{p + 1},u}},{\gamma_{v,u} + ɛ_{\gamma,{p + 1},u}}} )}{\mathbb{e}}^{j{\hat{\Omega}}_{v,u}}}\end{matrix}} \\{\approx \begin{matrix}\lbrack {G_{p,u}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{u} + ɛ_{z,p,u}},{\gamma_{v,u} + ɛ_{\gamma,p,u}}} )}  \\{ {{G_{{p + 1},u}^{*}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{u} + ɛ_{z,{p + 1},u}},{\gamma_{v,u} + ɛ_{\gamma,{p + 1},u}}} )}{\mathbb{e}}^{{j\Omega}_{v,u}}} \rbrack{\mathbb{e}}^{j{\lbrack{{\hat{\Omega}}_{v,u} - \Omega_{v,u}}\rbrack}}}\end{matrix}} \\{\approx {{\mathbb{e}}^{j{\lbrack{{\hat{\Omega}}_{v,u} - \Omega_{v,u}}\rbrack}}{G_{p,u}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{u} + ɛ_{z,p,u}},{\gamma_{v,u} + ɛ_{\gamma,p,u}}} )}}}\end{matrix}$The carrot symbol, ˆ, denotes an estimate for both L and Ω, while thenon-carrot Ω is the corresponding true value.

A second approximation is based on the quantity in square brackets beingreal-valued and non-negative for a true Ω_(v,u). With thisapproximation, only the amplitude of G_(p,u)G^(*) _(p+1,u) isdisregarded, which should be unimportant since amplitude is generallyuniform. The phase error remains.

The above-identified criterion will first consider only long-rangesamples, where slant and horizontal range are substantially equivalent.Four beam pairs: port and starboard, symmetric fore (+) and aft (−) ofbeam aspect (i.e., φ⁻=−φ₊) are used. The phase of the inner products is:${\pi( {m + n} )} = {{\angle\langle {{\hat{L}}_{{Stbd} +},{\hat{L}}_{{Stbd} -}} \rangle} = {{{\frac{8\pi}{\lambda} \cdot {\sin( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )}}\Delta\quad\hat{x}} - {2{{\zeta^{\prime}( {\sin( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )} )} \cdot {\cos( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )}}\Delta\quad{\hat{\phi}}_{z}} + {\angle g}_{Stbd}}}$${\pi( {m + n} )} = {{\angle\langle {{\hat{L}}_{{Port} +},{\hat{L}}_{{Port} -}} \rangle} = {{{\frac{8\pi}{\lambda} \cdot {\sin( \varphi_{{Port} +} )}}\Delta\quad\hat{x}} - {2{{\zeta^{\prime}( {\sin( \varphi_{{Port} +} )} )} \cdot {\cos( \varphi_{{Port} +} )}}\Delta\quad{\hat{\phi}}_{z}} + {\angle g}_{Port}}}$

These equations represent the solution to a set of two {tilde over (L)}equations, with their peak at zero phase, or any multiple of 2π. (Theπ(m+n) and π(m−n) are arbitrary integer multiples of 2π defined in thisapparently clumsy manner because they yield convenient solutions below.)The remaining variables and operators are defined to be:

-   Δ{circumflex over (x)}=estimate of displacement along the x-axis,    forward (see FIGS. 1B, 1C for axes)-   {circumflex over (φ)}_(z)=estimate of rotation about the z-axis    (yaw);-   {circumflex over (L)}_(Stbd+)=estimate of L_(u) for beam pair u    being starboard, fore of beam aspect;-   {circumflex over (L)}_(Stbd−)=estimate of L_(u) for beam pair u    being starboard, aft of beam aspect;-   φ_(Stbd+)=φ_(u) for beam pair u being starboard, fore of beam    aspect;    ${{\angle g}_{Stbd} = {\angle\{ {\sum\limits_{v \in {LongRange}}{G_{p,{{Stbd} +}}G_{{p + 1},{{Stbd} +}}^{*}G_{p,{{Stbd} -}}^{*}G_{{p + 1},{{Stbd} -}}}} \}}};$-   ζ′=same as defined for L_(u);-   {circumflex over (L)}_(Port+)=estimate of L_(u) for beam pair u    being port, fore of beam aspect;-   {circumflex over (L)}_(Port−)=estimate of L_(u) for beam pair u    being port, aft of beam aspect;-   φ_(Port+)=φ_(u) for beam pair u being port, fore of beam aspect; and    ${\angle g}_{Port} = {\angle{\{ {\sum\limits_{v \in {LongRange}}{G_{p,{{Port} +}}G_{{p + 1},{{Port} +}}^{*}G_{p,{{Port} -}}^{*}G_{{p + 1},{{Port} -}}}} \}.}}$

The above yields first Phase Linearization equations including twolinear equations with two unknowns, which are solved to generate alongtrack and yaw estimates:${\Delta\quad\hat{x}} = \frac{{- {\angle g}_{Stbd}} - {\angle g}_{Port} + {2\pi\quad m}}{\frac{16\pi}{\lambda} \cdot {\sin( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )}}$${\Delta\quad{\hat{\phi}}_{z}} = \frac{{\angle g}_{Stbd} - {\angle g}_{Port} + {2\pi\quad n}}{4{{\zeta^{\prime}( {\sin( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )} )} \cdot {\cos( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )}}}$

In certain embodiments, it is trivial to select the true m and n values.Merely identifying which beam pairs are capable of correlation issufficient to resolve this issue, based on whether the m and n valuesyield a spatially overlapping beam pair.

Next, second Phase Linearization equations are generated and solved toprovide roll rate and sway estimates, which are based on aport/starboard pair of beam pairs at equal azimuth via the innerproduct:$\langle {{\hat{L}}_{{Stbd} +},{\hat{L}}_{{Port} +}} \rangle = {\sum\limits_{v \in {All}}{{\overset{\sim}{G}}_{v} \cdot {\exp( {j{\frac{8\pi}{\lambda} \cdot {\cos( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )} \cdot \{ {{\frac{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +}}{\sqrt{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +}^{2} + \gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}}^{2}}} \cdot \lbrack {{\frac{w}{2} \cdot \Delta}\quad\phi_{x}} \rbrack} + {{\frac{\gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}}}{\sqrt{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +}^{2} + \gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}}^{2}}} \cdot \Delta}\quad y}} \}}} )}}}$${\overset{\sim}{G}}_{v} = {{{{G_{p,{{Stbd} +}}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +} + ɛ_{z,p,{{Stbd} +}}},{\gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}} + ɛ_{\gamma,p,{{Stbd} +}}}} )} \cdot {G_{{p + 1},{{Stbd} +}}^{*}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +} + ɛ_{z,{p + 1},{{Stbd} +}}},{\gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}} + ɛ_{\gamma,{p + 1},{{Stbd} +}}}} )} \cdot \ldots}\quad{{G_{p,{{Port} +}}^{*}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Port} +} + ɛ_{z,p,{{Port} +}}},{\gamma_{v,{{Port} +}} + ɛ_{\gamma,p,{{Port} +}}}} )} \cdot {G_{{p + 1},{{Port} +}}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Port} +} + ɛ_{z,{p + 1},{{Port} +}}},{\gamma_{v,{{Port} +}} + ɛ_{\gamma,p,{{Port} +}}}} )} \cdot \ldots}\quad{\exp( {{- j} \cdot \frac{\gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}}}{\sqrt{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +}^{2} + \gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}}^{2}}} \cdot \{ {{\frac{8\pi}{\lambda} \cdot \frac{{\hat{\phi}}_{z}\Delta\quad\hat{x}}{\cos( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )}} + {2{{\zeta^{\prime}( {\sin( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )} )} \cdot {\cos( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )}}\Delta\quad{\hat{\phi}}_{z}}} \}} )}{\hat{\phi}}_{z}} = {\frac{1}{2}\Delta\quad{\hat{\phi}}_{z}}}$All parameters appearing at {tilde over (G)}_(v) are known or have beenestimated, so plug them in and tabulate the {tilde over (G)}_(v).Specifically, use the estimates Δ{circumflex over (x)} and Δ{circumflexover (φ)}_(z) computed above. The identity on φ_(z) is because φ_(z)=0for ping p, and the average over pings p and p+1 is computed. Areal-valued peak of the above expression is found with a three-stepprocess.

-   -   Assign a reasonable initial estimate to Δφ_(x). If the lateral        separation of port and starboard arrays is zero (w=0), then this        term drops out. For w≠0, a certain embodiment uses a low-grade        gyro to obtain this estimate. It must be emphasized that such a        low-grade gyro would be vastly less expensive than the extremely        high-grade inertial motion unit (IMU) that would be required for        motion estimation directly from inertial data. Other embodiments        will simply try reasonable values such as Δφ_(x)=0, to avoid        using a gyro.    -   Do a line search in Δy to find the envelope peak.    -   Do a coherent line search along the major axis of ambiguity to        find the closest real-valued peak, which shall be taken as the        optimum Δφ_(x) and Δy.

Third Phase Linearization equations that provide an estimate of a changein pitch are based on two starboard beam pairs, equidistant fore and aftof beam aspect.${\langle {{\hat{L}}_{{Stbd} +},{\hat{L}}_{{Stbd} -}} \rangle = {{\sum\limits_{v \in {All}}\quad{{{\overset{\sim}{G}}_{v} \cdot {\exp( {j\quad 2\zeta^{\prime}\quad{( {\sin\quad( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )} ) \cdot \cos}\quad{( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} ) \cdot \frac{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +}}{\sqrt{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +}^{2} + \gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}}^{2}}} \cdot {\Delta\phi}_{y}}} )}}\quad{\overset{\sim}{G}}_{v}}} = {{{G_{p,{{Stbd} +}}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +} + ɛ_{z,p,{{Stbd} +}}},{\gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}} + ɛ_{\gamma,p,{{Stbd} +}}}} )} \cdot {G_{{p + 1},{{Stbd} +}}^{*}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +} + ɛ_{z,{p + 1},{{Stbd} +}}},{\gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}} + ɛ_{\gamma,{p + 1},{{Stbd} +}}}} )} \cdot \ldots}\quad{{G_{p,{{Stbd} -}}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} -} + ɛ_{z,p,{{Stbd} -}}},{\gamma_{v,{{Stbd} -}} + ɛ_{\gamma,p,{{Stbd} -}}}} )} \cdot {G_{{p + 1},{{Stbd} -}}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} -} + ɛ_{z,{p + 1},{{Stbd} -}}},{\gamma_{v,{{Stbd} -}} + ɛ_{\gamma,{p + 1},{{Stbd} -}}}} )} \cdot \ldots}\quad{\exp( {j \cdot \{ {{{\frac{8\pi}{\lambda} \cdot \sin}\quad{( \varphi_{{Stdb} +} ) \cdot \Delta}\hat{\quad x}} - {2{{\zeta^{\prime}( {\sin\quad( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )} )} \cdot \lbrack {\frac{\Delta\hat{\quad x}}{\sqrt{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +}^{2} + \gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}}^{2}}} + {\cos\quad{( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} ) \cdot \frac{\gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}}}{\sqrt{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +}^{2} + \gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}}^{2}}} \cdot \Delta}{\hat{\phi}}_{z}}} \rbrack}}}\quad \}} )}}}}\quad$The above equations can be solved by a 1-D line search over Δφ_(y) asfollows.

-   -   Evaluate the inner product at Δφ_(y)=0 and ε for some |ε|<<1,        and compute partial derivative of inner product phase with        respect to Δφ_(y).    -   Use the derivative to compute several reasonable Δφ_(y) values        with zero phase.    -   Evaluate the inner product at each of these values, and chose        that with the maximum amplitude to be the true Δφ_(y).        The line being searched is not aligned with the major axis of        ambiguity, so there should not be much trouble with multiple        cycles having peaks with amplitudes comparable to the maximum.        The use of two starboard beam pairs is arbitrary. In an        alternate embodiment, two port beam pairs could be used instead        with slightly different equations that could readily be derived        by one of ordinary skill in the art.

With all of the proceeding motion terms available, fourth PhaseLinearization equations are generated to compute the heave using asingle beam pair.${\hat{L}}_{{Stbd} +} = {{\sum\limits_{v \in {All}}\quad{{{\overset{\sim}{G}}_{v} \cdot \exp}\quad( {{j \cdot \frac{4\pi}{\lambda} \cdot \cos}\quad{( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} ) \cdot \frac{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +}}{\sqrt{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +}^{2} + \gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}}^{2}}} \cdot \hat{\xi}}} )\quad\hat{\xi}}} = {{{\Delta\hat{\quad z}} + {\frac{{\hat{\phi}}_{y}\Delta\hat{x}}{\cos^{2}( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )}{\overset{\sim}{G}}_{v}}} = {{{G_{p,{{Stbd} +}}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +} + ɛ_{z,p,{{Stbd} +}}},{\gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}} + ɛ_{\gamma,p,{{Stbd} +}}}} )} \cdot \ldots}\quad{{G_{{p + 1},{{Stbd} +}}^{*}( {{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +} + ɛ_{z,{p + 1},{{Stbd} +}}},{\gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}} + ɛ_{\gamma,{p + 1},{{Stbd} +}}}} )} \cdot \ldots}\quad\exp\quad( {j \cdot \{ {{\frac{4\pi}{\lambda} \cdot \lbrack {{\frac{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +}}{\sqrt{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +}^{2} + \gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}}^{2}}} \cdot \{ {{\Delta ɛ}_{z,{{Stbd} +}} + {\cos\quad{( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} ) \cdot \frac{w}{2} \cdot \quad\Delta}\quad{\hat{\phi}}_{x}}} \}} + \quad{\ldots\quad{\frac{\gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}}}{\sqrt{{\overset{\sim}{z}}_{{Stbd} +}^{2} + \gamma_{v,{{Stbd} +}}^{2}}} \cdot \{ {{\Delta ɛ}_{\gamma,{{Stbd} +}} + {\cos\quad{( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} ) \cdot \Delta}\hat{y}} - {{\frac{\Delta{\hat{\phi}}_{z}}{\cos\quad( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )} \cdot \quad\Delta}\quad\hat{x}}} \}}} + \quad{\ldots\quad\sin\quad{( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} ) \cdot \Delta}\hat{x}}} \rbrack} + {\Delta{\hat{\zeta}}_{v,{{Stbd} +}}}} \}} )}}}$

The optimum value of {circumflex over (ξ)} is computed by a line searchcomparable to that for Δφ_(y) in the third Phase Linearization. Thechoice of a starboard beam pointing fore of beam aspect was arbitrary.Alternate embodiments could use a different beam, with slightlydifferent equations readily derived by one of ordinary skill in the art.

The above-computed heave may be contaminated by a term involving thepitch (not change in pitch). It is not obvious how to decouple the heaveand pitch terms on the basis of a single ping pair. In one embodiment,the entire preceding Phase Linearization process for a long series ofpings is performed, and then the heave and pitch terms are decoupledbased on long-term drift in the integrated differential heave, relativeto the series of coarse altitudes (nadir returns). The pitchcompensation is described in FIGS. 8-8B below. However, a mathematicalderivation is also presented below.

The differential pitch has been estimated above. An integration of thedifferential pitch over pings provides a DC offset. The integral is:${\sum\limits_{p = 1}^{P - 1}\quad{\hat{\xi}}_{p}} = {\sum\limits_{p = 1}^{P - 1}\{ {\lbrack {z_{p + 1} - z_{p}} \rbrack + \frac{\frac{1}{2} \cdot \lbrack {\phi_{y,{p + 1}} + \phi_{y,p}} \rbrack \cdot \lbrack {{\hat{x}}_{p + 1} - {\hat{x}}_{p}} \rbrack}{\cos^{2}( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )}} \}}$where:

-   {circumflex over (ξ)}_(p)=fourth Phase Linearization estimate of    altitude difference between pings p and p+1, with pitch    contamination;-   z_(p+1)=true altitude for ping p+1;-   z_(p)=true altitude for ping p;-   φ_(y,p+1)=true pitch for ping p+1;-   φ_(y,p)=true pitch for ping p;-   {circumflex over (x)}_(p+1)=estimated forward position at ping p+1;    and-   {circumflex over (x)}_(p)=estimated forward position at ping p.    Replacing true altitudes with nadir returns, and solving for pitch:    $\begin{matrix}    {{\sum\limits_{p = 1}^{P - 1}\quad{\hat{\xi}}_{p}} = {\sum\limits_{p = 1}^{P - 1}\{ {\lbrack {{\hat{a}}_{p + 1} - {\hat{a}}_{p}} \rbrack + \frac{\frac{1}{2} \cdot \lbrack {\phi_{y,{p + 1}} + \phi_{y,p}} \rbrack \cdot \lbrack {{\hat{x}}_{p + 1} - {\hat{x}}_{p}} \rbrack}{\cos^{2}( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )}} \}}} \\    {{\hat{\phi}}_{y,1} = \frac{\begin{matrix}    {{\{ {\lbrack {\sum\limits_{p = 1}^{P - 1}\quad{\hat{\xi}}_{p}} \rbrack - \lbrack {{\hat{a}}_{p} - {\hat{a}}_{1}} \rbrack} \} \cdot {\cos^{2}( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )}} -} \\    \{ {\sum\limits_{p = 1}^{P - 1}{{\frac{1}{2} \cdot \lbrack {{\hat{\phi}}_{\Delta,{p + 1}} + {\hat{\phi}}_{\Delta,p}} \rbrack \cdot \Delta}{\hat{x}}_{p}}} \}    \end{matrix}}{\sum\limits_{p = 1}^{p - 1}{\Delta{\hat{x}}_{p}}}} \\    {{\hat{\phi}}_{y,p} = {{\hat{\phi}}_{y,1} + {\hat{\phi}}_{\Delta,p}}} \\    {{\hat{\phi}}_{\Delta,p} = {\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{p - 1}{\Delta{\hat{\phi}}_{y,k}}}}    \end{matrix}$

Now that the pitch has been estimated, the altitude is solved throughintegrating the differential altitude, and giving it a DC value equal tothat of the coarse altitudes described above in conjunction with FIG. 3:$\begin{matrix}{{\Delta{\hat{z}}_{p}} = {{\hat{\xi}}_{p} - \frac{{\hat{\phi}}_{y,p}\Delta{\hat{x}}_{p}}{\cos^{2}( \varphi_{{Stbd} +} )}}} \\{{\hat{z}}_{1} = {\frac{1}{P}{\sum\limits_{p = 1}^{P}\quad\{ {a_{p} - {\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{p - 1}{\Delta{\hat{z}}_{k}}}} \}}}} \\{{\hat{z}}_{p} = {{\hat{z}}_{1} + {\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{p - 1}{\Delta{\hat{z}}_{k}}}}}\end{matrix}$

Next, change the coordinates of the series of motion estimates from thelocal reference frames to a consistent reference frame, for example, anearth reference frame, north-east-and down (NED). Coordinate conversionscan be performed with a conventional rotation matrix.

The optimization presented above is but one example of how to maximizethe Phase Linearization criterion. Other techniques can also be used.

In alternate embodiments, different combinations of beams associatedwith each of the Phase Linearization equations can be used. Also, inalternate embodiments, a sum over multiple beam pairs can be usedinstead of the products used in the above-described inner product.

Referring now to FIG. 7B, azimuth phase encoding of the transmit beamsis explained. A first tow body 560 is shown is positions 560 a, 560 bcorresponding to a relative along-track displacement. Beams 562 a, 564 acorrespond to starboard and port beams, respectively at the first towbody position 560 a, and beams 562 b, 564 b correspond to starboard andport beams, respectively, at the second tow body position 560 b.

The first Phase Linearization equations and methods described aboveallow estimates of forward displacement and rotation (yaw). To this end,a transmit beam pattern is provided having a phase shift that is roughlyquadratic. With this arrangement, correlation between consecutive pingsyields a phase shift that is generally linear in azimuth. The phaseshift has even symmetry between port and starboard for forward motionand odd symmetry for rotations (yaw) changes and pitch changes in thenear field). Rotation (yaw) by one physical beam width can result in alarge amount of phase shift.

Creating a transmit array with quadratic phase shift in azimuth ispossible. Certain transmitters intended for conventional single-pingbeamforming have this property. Individual transducers can only transmita moderate amount of power into the water. Therefore, it can be usefulto have an array of such elements to increase the transmit power. If theelements were arranged in a straight line and transmitted the samesignal simultaneously, then they would interfere coherently to form anobjectionably narrow transmit beam. A common way to azimuthally broadenthe transmit beam is to curve the array slightly, with the convex sidepointing in the positive range direction, and transmit the same signalin all elements simultaneously. Alternately, a linear array can be used,with time delays on each element to simulate this effect.

A graph illustrating forward motion has a vertical axis 566 in units ofazimuth angle about the tow body and a horizontal axis 568 in units ofphase change in the receive beams 564 a, 564 b. As a result of theacoustic transmitter having a phase shift in azimuth, a curve 570corresponds to a phase across the receive beam 564 a and a curve 572corresponds to a phase change across the receive beam 564 b. A line 576is representative of a slope of the average phase change correspondingto the beams 574 a, 574 b as the tow body moves from position 560 a toposition 560 b.

Another graph has a vertical axis 578 in units of azimuth angle aboutthe tow body and a horizontal axis 580 in units of phase change in thereceive beams 562 a, 562 b. A curve 582 corresponds to a phase acrossthe receive beam 562 a and a curve 584 corresponds to a phase changeacross the beam 562 b. A line 586 is representative of a slope of theaverage phase change corresponding to the beams 562 a, 562 b as the towbody moves forward from position 560 a to position 560 b.

It can be seen that the lines 576 and 586 have the same slope.

A second tow body 590 is shown at positions 590 a, 590 b correspondingto a relative heading rotation (yaw). Beams 592 a, 594 a correspond tostarboard and port beams, respectively at the first tow body position590 a, and beams 592 b, 594 b correspond to starboard and port beams,respectively, at the second tow body position 590 b.

A graph has a vertical axis 596 in units of azimuth angle about the towbody and a horizontal axis 598 in units of phase change in the receivebeams 594 a, 594 b. A curve 600 corresponds to a phase across thereceive beam 594 a and a curve 602 corresponds to a phase change acrossthe receive beam 594 b. A line 604 is representative of the azimuthvariation in differential phase between beams 594 a, 594 b when the towbody is in positions 590 a and 590 b, respectively.

Another graph has a vertical axis 606 in units of azimuth angle aboutthe tow body and a horizontal axis 608 in units of phase change in thereceive beams 592 a, 592 b. A curve 610 corresponds to a phase acrossthe receive beam 592 a and a curve 612 corresponds to a phase changeacross the beam 592 b. A line 614 is representative of a slope of theaverage phase change corresponding to the beams 592 a, 592 b as the towbody moves from position 590 a to position 590 b.

It can be seen that the lines 604 and 614 have opposite slope.Therefore, the opposite change in phases in the port and starboardreceive beams can be used to identify a rotation (yaw) distinct from aforward along track motion.

The phase change distinction is apparent in the first PhaseLinearization equations, where forward motion depends on the sum ofstarboard and port phases (

g_(Stbd)+

g_(Port)), while yaw depends on the difference of starboard and portphases (

g_(Stbd)−

g_(Port)).

Referring now to FIGS. 7C-7E, pictorials 670, 677 and 689 areillustrative of properties of the above second Phase Linearity equation,which uses a difference in horizontal displacements (generated above) ofport and starboard beam pairs to estimate roll difference and sway. Thepictorial 670 shows a first position 672 a and a second position 672 bof a tow body 672 associated with pings p and p+1, respectively. A portbeam pair 674 a, 674 b and a symmetric starboard beam pair 676 a, 676 bare associated with the pings p and p+1, respectively. If only sway werepresent, then a difference in horizontal displacements for port andstarboard beams 674 a, 674 b, 676 a, 676 b would indicate sway.

A roll change associated with a tow body 678 is shown in the pictorial677. The tow body 678 has lateral separation of width, w, 680 betweenport and starboard arrays (not shown). The roll of the tow body 678changes from ping p to ping p+1 and corresponds to an angle change,Δφ_(x). The product of the change in roll, Δφ_(x), and the lateralseparation, w, of port and starboard receive arrays is an effectivealtitude difference 686 between port and starboard arrays. When one sideshifts up, the other goes down. This is an odd symmetry between port andstarboard, similar to sway.

When both roll difference and sway are considered jointly, the secondPhase Linearization equation could be displayed as an “ambiguity”surface 694, if it were evaluated for all possible roll difference andsway values. A horizontal axis 690 corresponds to sway, and a verticalaxis 692 corresponds to roll difference (times half the lateralseparation). A major axis 696 and a minor axis 698 of the ambiguitysurface 694 are similar to those identified in FIG. 5E. In oneparticular embodiment, a series of line searches can be used toefficiently find a real-valued peak of the ambiguity surface 694,without need to evaluate the second Phase Linearization equation for allpossible roll difference and phase values. In certain embodiments, theroll difference is estimated with a low-quality gyro as aninitialization. However, in other embodiments, the line search is basedexclusively on the acoustic data without use of a gyro.

Referring now to FIGS. 7F and 7G, pictorial 620 and graph 633 areillustrative of properties of the above third Phase Linearity equationswith which a differential pitch estimate is obtained, based on azimuthphase encoding in the transmit beam. A starboard side-scan sonar array622 is shown at position 622 a and 622 b for pings p and p+1,respectively. For simplicity, only a change in pitch 624, Δφ_(y), isshown. Transmit beams illuminates the swath 626 a and 626 b for pings pand p+1, respectively. A side view of an average MRA 628 of an aftreceive beam pair (not shown) in the water column is shown. A side viewof an average MRA 630 of a fore receive beam pair (not shown) in thewater column is shown. Small scatterers on sea floor 632 for both of theaverage MRAs 628, 630 lie in hyperbolas largely orthogonal to an x-zplane of FIG. 7F, and are not shown.

A graph 633 has a horizontal axis 636 corresponding to along trackposition along the sea floor 632 and a vertical axis 638 correspondingto transmit beam phase. Curves 634 a and 634 b are indicative of phaseof the transmit beams 626 a and 626 b, respectively, as a function ofalong track position on the sea floor 632 for pings p and p+1,respectively. In one particular embodiment, the along track transmitphase, i.e., the curves 634 a, 634 b are nearly quadratic and a phasedifference between pings p and p+1 is nearly linear, as indicated by aline 644. The phase differences corresponding to the aft and forereceive beam pairs are indicated by lines 646 and 648, respectively,which pass through intersections of lines 640, 642 (which align withdirections 630, 632) with the phase difference curve 644. A phasedifference 649 between the fore and aft phase differences 646, 648 isnearly linear in pitch differences. This forms the basis of differentialpitch estimation.

Referring now to FIG. 7H, a pictorial 650 is illustrative of propertiesof the above fourth Phase Linearity equation, with which heave isestimated. The resulting heave estimate can be contaminated by pitch. Anarrangement having θ_(MRAs)=0 (i.e., beam aspect) is shown forsimplicity. A tow body 652 is shown at position 652 a for ping p and atposition 652 b for ping p+1. A constant pitch 656, φ_(y), is shown. Aforward displacement 658, Δx, and a vertical displacement 660, Δz, areshown. A pitch contaminated heave estimate 662, ξ, is shown. An MRA ofthe beam at beam aspect is orthogonal to the tow body 652, andtherefore, is rotated by an angle, Φ_(y), forward of vertical. A receivebeam having MRA 654 a is associated with ping p and a receive beamhaving MRA 654 b is associated with ping p+1. A vertical reference 664is vertical with respect to a sea floor 666. Correlation of the receivebeam pair (having MRAs 654 a, 654 b) is based on echoes from a largefield of small scatterers located midway between the two MRAs 654 a, 654b, i.e., from a hyperbola largely orthogonal to an x-z plane of FIG. 7H,intersecting a point 668. If the altitude is much larger than the motionbetween pings, the difference in distance from the tow body 652 to thepoint 668 for pings p and p+1 is calculated by projection of thedisplacement vector onto the MRA vector 654 a or, equivalently, onto theMRA vector 654 b: $\begin{matrix}{\xi = {\lbrack {\sin\quad( \phi_{y} )\quad 0\quad\cos\quad( \phi_{y} )} \rbrack\begin{bmatrix}{\Delta\quad x} \\0 \\{\Delta\quad z}\end{bmatrix}}} \\{\approx {{\Delta\quad z} + {{\phi_{y} \cdot \Delta}\quad x}}}\end{matrix}$The above is equivalent to ξ in the fourth Phase Linearization equationat beam aspect, where the cosine of the MRA in the denominatordegenerates to one.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a process 700 can be used to reduce oreliminate the affect of pitch on heave calculated above in conjunctionwith FIG. 7 in the four Phase Linearization equations. A mathematicalderivation was given above.

The process 700 begins at step 702 where a pitch at the first ping of anN-ping block is calculated. A particular embodiment of this step is the{circumflex over (φ)}_(y,1) term in the heave correction equations,which indirectly absorbs estimation of DC pitch into the computation of{circumflex over (φ)}_(y,1). The calculation is described more fully inconjunction with FIGS. 8A and 8B below.

At block 704, for each successive ping in the N-ping block, estimate thepitch to equal the pitch at the first ping plus the sum over allpreceding pings of the change in pitch determined in the Third PhaseLinearization equations discussed in conjunction with FIG. 7. Aparticular embodiment of this step is the {circumflex over (φ)}_(y,p)term in the heave correction equations.

At block 706, valid heave increments are provided by subtracting aproduct of pitch and forward motion, divided by the square of the cosineof MRA, from the contaminated heave estimates. The forward motion iscalculated above in conjunction with FIG. 7 in the first phase linearityequations. A particular embodiment of this step is the Δ{circumflex over(z)}_(p) term in the heave correction equations.

At block 708, the heave increments identified in block 706 areintegrated over the N-ping block.

At block 710, the DC altitude offset is indirectly computed by findingthe true altitude at ping 1. This is done by finding the least squareerror between the set of coarse altitudes and the sum of the integrateddifferential altitude estimates plus the altitude at ping 1. Aparticular embodiment of this step is the {circumflex over (z)}₁ term inthe heave correction equations.

At block 712, the altitude of each ping after the first is computed byadding the altitude of the first ping, computed in block 710, to the sumof all preceding corrected differential altitudes, computed in block706.

At decision block 714, if the N-ping block is the last N-ping block, theprocess ends. Otherwise, at block 716, a next N-Ping block is selectedand the process 700 repeats for the new N-Ping block.

Referring now to FIG. 8A, a process 750 identifies the pitch at thefirst ping of an N-ping block as described above in conjunction withFIG. 8, block 702. The process 750 begins at block 752 where a coarsealtitude of the first ping and the last ping in an N-ping block areidentified in accordance with block 58 of FIG. 2.

At block 754, the pitch-contaminated altitude differences {circumflexover (ξ)}_(p), obtained in the Fourth Phase Linearization of FIG. 7 andFIG. 7E, are added over all pings to obtain a pitch-contaminatedaltitude difference between the first and last pings in the N-pingblock.

At decision label 756, the two fine altitude differences, high-precisionaltitude differences, or sway-reduced altitude differences areassociated and at block 758, the two coarse altitudes are associated.The association is further described in conjunction with FIG. 8B.

At block 760, a difference is computed between the fine, high-precision,or sway-reduced altitude difference association and the coarse altitudeassociation provided in blocks 756 and 758.

At block 762, a pitch at the first ping is identified from arelationship involving the altitude difference generated at block 760.The process 750 is described graphically in FIG. 8B.

Referring now to FIG. 8B, a graph 800 illustrates the cumulative effectof pitch-contaminated differential altitudes, and shows the basic methodwith which the altitudes are corrected. A data point 802 corresponds toan arbitrary initial altitude assigned to the first ping'spitch-contaminated altitude. A data point 804 corresponds to the datapoint 802, plus the integral of pitch-contaminated differential altitudeobtained from the fourth Phase Linearization equations of FIG. 7 andFIG. 7E.

A data point 806 corresponds to a coarse altitude of the first ping inthe N-ping block determined in accordance with block 58 of FIG. 2. Adata point 808 corresponds to a coarse altitude of the last ping in theN-ping block.

A divergence of the data points 802, 806 compared with the data points804, 808 is indicative of a pitch of the receive array. Therefore adifference in altitude between the data points 802, 806 compared with(e.g., subtracted from) a difference in altitude between the data points804, 808 is indicative of a pitch in the receive array. The pitch can beused to adjust the heave in the Fourth Phase Linearization equations.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a method 850 provides a method fortwo-dimensional horizontal displacement estimation when altitudedifferences have been estimated by another method. At any MRA φ, thehorizontal-range displacement found from correlating a beam pair equalsthe projection of the horizontal displacement vector onto the MRA. Ifthe wrong cycle is chosen as the zero-phase solution, then thehorizontal-range displacement will have an additional erroneousdisplacement of an integer number of multiples of a distance similar tohalf the acoustic wavelength. A “Zero-Phase Curvature” method inspectsthe curvature of candidate zero-phase solutions on a series of closelyspaced beams over a broad azimuth sector, to see if their curvature isproper. Only the true solution will have a horizontal displacement thatis sinusoidal in azimuth.

Since the Zero-Phase Curvature method is based on the curvature of thecorrelation's zero-phase peak, it is best suited for receive arrayshaving a wide azimuth swath of receive beams, so the curvature of thezero-phase peak is significant. In one particular embodiment, forexample, the receive array can form receive beams having an azimuthswath of at least 45°. As is known, many conventional side-scan sonarshave only a relatively narrow azimuth swath, causing the zero-phasecurvature to degenerate into a line. As is known, many conventionaltowed arrays, sphere arrays, and cylinder arrays have a relatively wideazimuth swath. Therefore, the method 850 is most applicable to towedarrays, sphere arrays, and cylinder arrays.

The method 850 begins at block 852, where a set of receive beamscovering a wide azimuth swath is selected. At block 854, a receive cycleis selected in association with each of the receive beams.

At block 856, a horizontal displacement is determined in the selectedreceive beams in accordance with any of the altitudes previouslydiscussed. For example, the coarse altitude methods discussed inconjunction with block 58 of FIG. 2, the fine altitude differencediscussed in conjunction with block 60, the high-precision altitudedifferences discussed in conjunction with block 62, or the sway-reducedaltitudes discussed in conjunction with block 64 can be used.

It should be apparent that a horizontal displacement in any of theselected beams is actually a displacement in a direction associated witha respective beam MRA of any of the selected beams. Therefore, thecomputed horizontal displacement across beams should be sinusoidallyrelated.

At block 858, the horizontal displacements calculated at block 856 arecompared with a cosine function.

At decision block 860, if the horizontal displacements calculated atblock 856 substantially match the cosine function, then the processends. However, if the horizontal displacements calculated at block 856do not substantially match a cosine function, a new receive cycle isselected at block 862 and the process continues at block 856. The method850 is described graphically in FIG. 9A.

Referring now to FIG. 9A, a graph 900 includes a horizontal scale havingunits of azimuth angle corresponding to selected receive beams about areceive array. A vertical scale corresponds to horizontal displacementdetermined in the selected beams in accordance with any of the altitudespreviously discussed. For example, the coarse altitude methods discussedin conjunction with block 58 of FIG. 2, the fine altitude differencediscussed in conjunction with block 60, the high-precision altitudedifferences discussed in conjunction with block 62, or the sway-reducedaltitudes discussed in conjunction with block 64 can be used.

A series of curves 902 show computed horizontal displacements over afull 360° azimuth, using a variety of receive cycles. In a certainembodiment, only a subset 901 of the 360° azimuth is present in theactual azimuth sector. Only the one curve having the point 904corresponds to a cosine function. Each of the other curves has an offsetalong the vertical scale. Therefore, it can be identified that only theone receive cycle corresponding to the curve having the point 904 is thecorrect receive cycle. The horizontal displacement vector is defined bythe angle and displacement (horizontal and vertical axes, respectively)at which the cosine reaches its peak (or would if a full 360° swathexisted).

One especially important aspect of the Zero-Phase Curvature algorithm isthat it is capable of estimating horizontal motion to sub-wavelengthprecision in both forward and starboard directions, based exclusively onspatially quantized horizontal-range correlation. It does not requireany approximations like Phase Linearization.

Referring now to FIG. 10, another process 250 can be used to resolve acycle ambiguity. A motion parameter is estimated over a series of pings,and cycle ambiguities are resolved based on the belief that motionshould be smoothly varying between pings. An example would be resolvingerrors in the cycle chosen along the major axis of the ambiguity surfacein FIG. 7E for roll rate and sway computation. This technique is notbased on detailed knowledge of platform kinematics in any specificcoordinate, making it applicable to many different parameters.

The process 250 begins with the infrastructure for sequential operationover a series of N-ping blocks. The decision block 251 determineswhether any more N-ping blocks exist. If none remain, the process 250ends. Otherwise, decision block 252 determines whether this is the firstN-ping block. If not, block 253 updates to the next N-ping block. Block254 initializes the ping number index to ping_number_index=p=1. Decisionblock 255 determines whether any pings remain in the current N-pingblock.

As used for FIG. 10, the term “parameter value” is used to describe, butis not limited to, an altitude difference value, an altitude value, or ahorizontal displacement value.

At block 256 a smoothness criterion is used to predict a reasonableparameter value at ping p+1, given the parameter value at neighboringpings. In a certain embodiment, the smoothness criterion is a causalaverage over several preceding pings. Another embodiment uses causallinear extrapolation from several preceding pings. At block 257 anassigned parameter value is assigned to ping p+1 that is associated witha candidate receive cycle to achieve an assigned parameter value closestto the above predicted parameter value.

The process continues to block 258 where the ping is incremented to thenext ping and the process continues to decision block 255. If, atdecision block 255 more pings remain, the process of blocks 256, 257,258, 255 repeats. If, at decision block 255 more pings do not remain,the process proceeds to block 259, where a common DC offset value isadded to the assigned parameter values for all pings. The DC offsetvalue corresponds to an integer number of cycles. The DC offset value ischosen to maximize the sum of the correlation envelopes. The process 250now returns to decision block 251, and the process repeats until thereare no more N-ping blocks.

Referring now to FIG. 10A, a graph 270 shows pictorially the method ofFIG. 10. A horizontal scale corresponds to ping number and a verticalscale corresponds to altitude difference (i.e., a parameter value)associated with the correlation process 150 of FIG. 4. Dark data pointsare representative of calculated altitude differences. Curves 272 a-272d correspond to altitude differences that would be calculated usingdifferent receive cycles of the beamformed waveforms. The curve 272 ccorresponds to the altitude calculation based upon a correct receivecycle. Suppose the altitude difference 280 were calculated, and thatanother candidate altitude difference 278 exists, corresponding to adifferent receive cycle. There is an a priori belief that motion shouldbe smoothly varying between pings. The altitude difference 278 wouldproduce a smoother motion estimate than the altitude difference 280would, so altitude difference 280 is replaced by 278.

Referring now to FIG. 11, an objective of correlating beam pairs is tofind the optimal displacement along the average of the two MRAs. This isvalid when the scene corresponds to a large field of small scatterers.However, if the scene has a point target with an echo amplitudeexceeding the background, then the point target may dominate a standardcorrelation. The correlation is effectively being done along a linepointing towards the point target, instead of along the average of theMRAs. Since there is no prior knowledge of the orientation of the pointtarget, this effect is not easily compensated for after correlation. Acomparable effect arises with spatially distributed non-point targets.

Clipped correlation is a signal processing technique used to limit theimpact of heavy-tailed noise on linear correlation. Clipped correlationfirst clips the peak values in the data to not exceed a threshold, andthen performs linear correlation on the clipped data. Many types ofconventional clipping functions exist. One example is to apply anarctangent to an amplitude of the data, while leaving phase of the dataunchanged. For one conventional technique, referred to as “QuantizedInitialization and Continuous Estimation”, all correlations, dot productequivalents of correlation, and Phase Linearization approximations ofcorrelation use clipped data, making them equivalent to clippedcorrelation. Clipped correlation is also used in a method referred to as“Zero-Phase Curvature.” Clipped correlation treats what may be theprimary target of interest in a scene as if it were just heavy-tailednoise to be reduced or removed.

Referring now to FIGS. 11-11C, a graph 980 has a horizontal axis 982corresponding to horizontal range and a vertical axis 984 correspondingto amplitude. A curve 986 having features 988 corresponds to acousticdata. The features 988 are indicative of a target at a range d1 having astrong echo. One of ordinary skill in the art will understand that ifthe acoustic data represented by the curve 986 having the features 988were correlated with other acoustic data having comparable features,then the interaction between the features in the two data sets woulddominate the correlation. The desired output of the correlation is basedon the large amount of low-amplitude data, which may have a differenceoptimal displacement than the few high-amplitude features.

A graph 990 shows a curve 991 (e.g., an arctangent curve) indicative ofan amplitude of a clipping function, f(η), that can be applied to theacoustic data 986 in order to reduce the influence of the features 988on correlations with other acoustic data. The dummy variable ηrepresents a single complex number, such as a sample of acoustic data. Agraph 992 shows a curve 993 indicative of a phase of the clippingfunction, f(η), that can be applied to the acoustic data 986. Theclipping function, f(η), therefore, applies the arctangent amplitude 991to the envelope of the acoustic data 986, but leaves the phase of theacoustic data 986 unchanged. A graph 994 shows a curve 996 indicative ofthe clipping function, f(η), applied to the acoustic data 986. Theresulting clipped acoustic data curve 996 is similar to the curve 986,except that the features 988 have been greatly attenuated in the curve996. Therefore, the features 988 will no longer dominate a correlation.

It should be apparent that, in one particular embodiment, theabove-described clipping function could be applied to the beamformedsignals before the correlation of block 182 of FIG. 4. With thisarrangement, the correlations of block 182 are not dominated by strongacoustic targets.

Referring now to FIG. 12, a synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) processor 950includes a coarse altitude module 956 adapted to receive beamformedsignals 954 and to provide coarse altitudes 956 a associated with amoving receive array as it moves though a body of water. A fine altitudedifference and fine horizontal displacement module 958 is adapted toprovide fine altitude differences and fine horizontal displacements 958a associated with the receive array. A high-precision altitudedifference and horizontal displacement module 960 is adapted to providehigh-precision altitude differences and high-precision horizontaldisplacements 960 a associated with the receive array. A sway reductionmodule 962 is adapted to provide sway-reduced altitude differences andsway-reduce horizontal displacements 962 a associated with the receivearray. A Phase Linearization module 964 is adapted to receive thesway-reduced altitude differences and sway-reduce horizontaldisplacements 962 a and to provide continuous (i.e., spatiallyunquantized) motion estimates 964 a of the receive array in two or moredegrees of freedom. A heave-due-to-pitch resolution module 966 isadapted to reduce pitch affect on at least one of the degrees of freedomcomputed by the Phase Linearization module 964. A coordinate conversionmodule 968 is adapted to receive the corrected two or more degrees offreedom and to generate a coordinate conversion to the motion estimates964 a from local coordinates to earth coordinates. An image generationmodule is adapted to use the motion estimates having coordinateconversion in synthetic aperture beamforming to generate an image 972displayed on a graphical user interface.

It should be appreciated that some of the modules are optional. Forexample, in an alternate embodiment, the high-precision altitudedifference and horizontal displacement module 960 could be eliminated.Also, in an alternate embodiment, the coordinate conversion module 968could be eliminated if all of the motion estimates provided by the PhaseLinearization module 964 were calculated in earth coordinates. Inanother alternate embodiment, the high-precision altitude difference andhorizontal displacement module 960 and the sway reduction module 962 areeliminated. In yet another embodiment, the high-precision altitudedifference and horizontal displacement module 960, and the swayreduction module 962 and the Phase Linearization module 964 areeliminated. Embodiments involving output to something other than agraphical user interface are possible, such as sending the SAS imagesdirectly to a computer aided detection/computer aided classificationmodule. A fundamentally different embodiment would be to omit the imagegeneration module and graphical user interface, and use the motionestimates for navigational purposes.

It will be appreciated that the above-described system and methodsprovide motion estimates that are accurate to a small fraction of awavelength since Phase Linearization is based on coherent interferencebetween signals. This is consistent with the SAS image formationrequirement of sub-wavelength precision for constructive interference ofhighlights over a series of pings.

Forward displacement of the sonar between pings causes a small timedelay in echoes from scatterers, which varies as a function of azimuthdifference from the MRA. The large field of small scatterers is actuallydistributed over two dimensions, contrary to the simplified distributionalong a hyperbola used in the derivation of Phase Linearization. If theforward motion is too large, then differences in time delay forscatterers on opposite sides of the hyperbola become large enough tocause destructive interference in the sum over scatterers. Correlationceases to function.

If beamforming is done with a boxcar window over the physical aperture,then correlation of a spatially overlapping beam pair drops to zero whenthe forward displacement between pings equals half the physical receivearray length. Therefore, correlation-based motion estimation only workswhen the forward speed is less than half the physical array length perping. This result is comparable to the known property of SAS imageformation, that the forward speed must be less than or equal to half thephysical array length per ping in order to avoid grating lobes. Similarresults can be obtained for windows other than a boxcar, such asChebyshev or Taylor. Typically, the maximum forward speed at whichmotion estimation can be performed is slightly less than the maximumforward speed at which grating lobes can be avoided in SAS imageformation.

It will also be apparent that the above system and methods that providereceive array position can be used in combination with the abovedescribed auto-focus techniques to further enhance resulting sonarimages formed in synthetic aperture sonar system processing.

All references cited herein are hereby incorporated herein by referencein their entirety.

Having described preferred embodiments of the invention, it will nowbecome apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that otherembodiments incorporating their concepts may be used. It is felttherefore that these embodiments should not be limited to disclosedembodiments, but rather should be limited only by the spirit and scopeof the appended claims.

1. System for synthetic aperture beamforming with a moving sonar array,the system comprising: a beamforming module to transmit a plurality oftransmit signals to impinge upon a surface, ones of the plurality oftransmit signals transmitted at a different spatial positions of themoving sonar array, to receive a plurality of return echoes from thesurface with the moving sonar array, each of the plurality of returnechoes associated with a respective one of the plurality of transmitsignals, and to beamform selected ones of the plurality of return echoesto provide a plurality of beamformed signals; a coarse altitude moduleto generate a plurality of coarse altitudes of the moving sonar array;and a fine altitude difference/horizontal displacement module togenerate a plurality of fine altitudes and a plurality of finehorizontal displacements of the moving sonar array from correlationsassociated with selected ones of the plurality of beamformed signals. 2.The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of transmit signals aretransmitted by the moving sonar array.
 3. The system of claim 1, whereinthe coarse altitude module is adapted to estimate times of nadir returnsassociated with selected ones of the plurality of beamformed signals. 4.The system of claim 3, wherein the coarse altitude module is adapted to:select ones of the plurality of beamformed signals, select a bottomdetection threshold, relate the selected ones of the plurality ofbeamformed signals to the bottom threshold to provide a respectiveplurality of thresholded beamformed signals, apply morphological erosionto the plurality of thresholded beamformed signals, apply morphologicaldilation to the eroded plurality of thresholded-beamformed signals,identify a respective shallowest depth at which each of thedilated-eroded plurality of thresholded-beamformed signals has a bottomreturn, and filter the shallowest depths to provide the plurality ofcoarse altitudes.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the fine altitudedifference/horizontal displacement module is adapted to: select acorrelation threshold, select a plurality of candidate altitudedifferences, convert selected ones of the plurality of beamformedsignals to horizontal range using the plurality of coarse altitudes toprovide a plurality of coarse horizontal projections, convert selectedones of the plurality of beamformed signals to horizontal range usingthe plurality of candidate altitude differences to provide a pluralityof fine horizontal projections, correlate selected ones of the pluralityof coarse horizontal projections with selected ones of the plurality offine horizontal projections to provide a respective plurality ofcorrelation vectors, identify a maximum correlation vector value fromamong the plurality of correlation vectors, and identify one of theplurality of fine altitude differences and one of the fine horizontaldisplacements associated with the maximum correlation vector value. 6.The system of claim 5, wherein the fine altitude difference/horizontaldisplacement module is further adapted to resolve a cycle ambiguityassociated with at least one of the plurality of beamformed signals 7.The system of claim 1, further including a high-precision altitudedifference/horizontal displacement module to improve an accuracy of theplurality of fine altitude differences and the plurality of finehorizontal displacements to provide a respective plurality ofhigh-precision altitude differences and a respective plurality ofhigh-precision horizontal displacements.
 8. The system of claim 7,wherein the high-precision altitude difference/horizontal motion moduleis adapted to: estimate a coarse axis of ambiguity associated with thecorrelations, interpolate the plurality of beamformed signals, convertselected ones of the plurality of beamformed signals to horizontal rangeat a higher spatial sampling rate than a sampling rate associated withthe fine horizontal displacements, using the plurality of coarsealtitudes to provide a plurality of coarse horizontal projections,convert selected ones of the plurality of interpolated beamformedsignals to horizontal range at the higher spatial sampling rate t, usingthe plurality of candidate altitude differences to provide a pluralityof improved fine horizontal projections, generate one or more dotproducts associated with the plurality of improved fine horizontalprojections and with the plurality of coarse horizontal projections toprovide a mid-precision axis of ambiguity associated with the pluralityof fine horizontal projections, generate a curve associated with themid-precision axis of ambiguity, fit a mathematical function to thegenerated curve, and find a peak of the mathematical function to providea high-precision altitude difference and high-precision horizontaldisplacement.
 9. The system of claim 7, further including a swayreduction module to reduce a sway component of the plurality ofhigh-precision altitude differences and the plurality of high-precisionhorizontal displacements to provide a respective plurality ofsway-reduced altitude differences and a respective plurality ofsway-reduced horizontal displacements.
 10. The system of claim 9,wherein the sway reduction module is adapted to: identify a plurality ofmaximums along a plurality of axes of ambiguity, identify a heave axisassociated with the plurality of axes of ambiguity, and adjust theplurality of high-precision altitude differences and the plurality ofhigh-precision horizontal displacements in accordance with the heaveaxis.
 11. The system of claim 9, further including a Phase Linearizationmodule for estimating spatially-continuous positions andspatially-continuous orientations of the moving sonar array in a firstcoordinate system in accordance with at least one of: the plurality offine altitude differences and fine horizontal displacements, theplurality of high-precision altitude differences and high-precisionhorizontal displacements, and the plurality of sway-reduced altitudedifferences and the plurality of sway-reduced horizontal displacements.12. The system of claim 11, wherein the spatially-continuous positionsand spatially-continuous orientations of the moving sonar array areestimated with six degrees of freedom.
 13. The system of claim 11,wherein the Phase Linearization module is adapted to perform at leastone of: selecting at least four beam pair signals from among theplurality of beamformed signals and applying a first mathematicalrelationship to the at least four beam pair signals to estimate aforward motion and a yaw of the moving sonar array; selecting at leasttwo beam pair signals from among the plurality of beamformed signals andapplying a second mathematical relationship to the at least two beampair signals to estimate a roll rate and a sway of the moving sonararray; selecting another at least two beam pair signals from among theplurality of beamformed signals and applying a third mathematicalrelationship to the another at least two beam pair signals to estimate achange in pitch of the moving sonar array; and selecting at least onebeam pair signals from among the plurality of beamformed signals andapplying a fourth mathematical relationship to the at least one beampair signal to estimate a heave of the moving sonar array.
 14. Thesystem of claim 13, further including a heave-due-to-pitch resolutionmodule to resolve a heave error due to pitch in the estimatedspatially-continuous positions and spatially-continuous orientations ofthe sonar array.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein theheave-due-to-pitch resolution module is adapted to: identify a pitchassociated with one of the plurality of beamformed signals, add theestimate of the change in pitch to the pitch associated with the one ofthe plurality of beamformed signals, associate the estimate of thechange in pitch and the estimate of the forward motion to provide one ormore heave increments, integrate the one or more heave increments,identify a DC heave offset associated with the integrated one or moreheave increments; and add the DC heave offset to the integrated one ormore heave increments to provide a plurality of final altitudes.
 16. Thesystem of claim 14, further including a coordinate conversion module forconverting the spatially-continuous positions and spatially-continuousorientations of the sonar array from the first coordinate system to asecond coordinate system
 17. The system of claim 14, further includingan image module for forming an image of a target, the image associatedwith the spatially-continuous positions and spatially-continuousorientations of the sonar array.
 18. The system of claim 7, furtherincluding a Phase Linearization module for estimatingspatially-continuous positions and spatially-continuous orientations ofthe moving sonar array in a first coordinate system in accordance withat least one of: the plurality of fine altitude differences and finehorizontal displacements, and the plurality of high-precision altitudedifferences and high-precision horizontal displacements.
 19. The systemof claim 18, wherein the spatially-continuous positions andspatially-continuous orientations of the moving sonar array areestimated with six degrees of freedom.
 20. The system of claim 18,wherein the Phase Linearization module is adapted to perform at leastone of: selecting at least four beam pair signals from among theplurality of beamformed signals and applying a first mathematicalrelationship to the at least four beam pair signals to estimate aforward motion and a yaw of the moving sonar array; selecting at leasttwo beam pair signals from among the plurality of beamformed signals andapplying a second mathematical relationship to the at least two beampair signals to estimate a roll rate and a sway of the moving sonararray; selecting another at least two beam pair signals from among theplurality of beamformed signals and applying a third mathematicalrelationship to the another at least two beam pair signals to estimate achange in pitch of the moving sonar array; and selecting at least onebeam pair signals from among the plurality of beamformed signals andapplying a fourth mathematical relationship to the at least one beampair signal to estimate a heave of the moving sonar array.
 21. Thesystem of claim 20, further including a heave-due-to-pitch resolutionmodule to resolve a heave error due to pitch in the estimatedspatially-continuous positions and spatially-continuous orientations ofthe sonar array.
 22. The system of claim 21, wherein theheave-due-to-pitch resolution module is adapted to: identify a pitchassociated with one of the plurality of beamformed signals, add theestimate of the change in pitch to the pitch associated with the one ofthe plurality of beamformed signals, associate the estimate of thechange in pitch and the estimate of the forward motion to provide one ormore heave increments, integrate the one or more heave increments,identify a DC heave offset associated with the integrated one or moreheave increments, and add the DC heave offset to the integrated one ormore heave increments to provide a plurality of final altitudes.
 23. Thesystem of claim 21, further including an image module for forming animage of a target, the image associated with the spatially-continuouspositions and spatially-continuous orientations of the sonar array. 24.The system of claim 1, further including a phase linearity module forestimating spatially-continuous positions and spatially-continuousorientations of the moving sonar array in a first coordinate system inaccordance with the plurality of fine altitude differences and theplurality of fine horizontal displacements.
 25. The system of claim 24,wherein the spatially-continuous positions and spatially-continuousorientations of the moving sonar array are estimated with six degrees offreedom.
 26. The system of claim 24, wherein the phase linearity moduleis adapted to perform at least one of: selecting at least four beam pairsignals from among the plurality of beamformed signals and applying afirst mathematical relationship to the at least four beam pair signalsto estimate a forward motion and a yaw of the moving sonar array;selecting at least two beam pair signals from among the plurality ofbeamformed signals and applying a second mathematical relationship tothe at least two beam pair signals to estimate a roll rate and a sway ofthe moving sonar array; selecting another at least two beam pair signalsfrom among the plurality of beamformed signals and applying a thirdmathematical relationship to the another at least two beam pair signalsto estimate a change in pitch of the moving sonar array; and selectingat least one beam pair signals from among the plurality of beamformedsignals and applying a fourth mathematical relationship to the at leastone beam pair signal to estimate a heave of the moving sonar array. 27.The system of claim 26, further including a heave-due-to-pitchresolution module to resolve a heave error due to pitch in the estimatedspatially-continuous positions and spatially-continuous orientations ofthe sonar array.
 28. The system of claim 27, wherein theheave-due-to-pitch resolution module is adapted to: identify a pitchassociated with one of the plurality of beamformed signals, add theestimate of the change in pitch to the pitch associated with the one ofthe plurality of beamformed signals, associate the estimate of thechange in pitch and the estimate of the forward motion to provide one ormore heave increments, integrate the one or more heave increments,identify a DC heave offset associated with the integrated one or moreheave increments, and add the DC heave offset to the integrated one ormore heave increments to provide a plurality of final altitudes.
 29. Thesystem of claim 27, further including an image module for forming animage of a target, the image associated with the spatially-continuouspositions and spatially-continuous orientations of the sonar array.